Coffee Break

Here’s a pic I started doodling behind my table at MCM London in October…

As usual, I began in pencil…

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Added inks…

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Scanned the picture into my mac…

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Started the colouring process, marking out different flat areas on different layers of Photoshop – background…

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Midground…

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Foreground (I wasn’t planning to keep this bright pink, but at this stage it’s easier to see what I’m doing with a strong contrasting colour)…

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Here’s these main areas with the line work on top…

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And here’s the different areas completely marked, and the colours adjusted.
I also added some shadow on the ground…

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Now there’s some texture on the tube things…

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I’ve started to add more details to the ground colour and changed the big creature’s pupils.  Less cute but more funny looking…

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Now there’s texture on the ground too, and the woman is completely coloured, including lighting.
The woman’s face wasn’t standing out enough against the tubes behind her, so I added a bit of white around her to spotlight her a bit…

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I toned down the white, so it was barely noticeable but still does the job.
I added the basic colours for the creature.  I’m trying to limit the range of colours to give the pic its own vibe.

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It was great focussing on different textures in this piece…
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And there you go! All done…

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This is going to end up as the cover from a new Tempo Lush collection coming out next year…

Portrait & Life Part 4: Watercolours with Ink Line

Being an illustrator rather than a fine artist, using watercolour with an ink line seems to come a lot more naturally to me than watercolour alone.  Not that I’ve come close to mastering the technique of course.

Watercolour and Ink Painting 24.1.12

Watercolour and Ink Life Painting 24.1.12

Sometimes it’s nice to pick one area of a painting (such as the figure) and add colour only there.  This creates a nice contrast between two different textures.

Watercolour and Ink Life Painting 7.2.12

After doing the below image in just watercolour in class, I felt it needed a touch more definition, so I added outlines in Photoshop at home.  Hmm… would be interesting to try a life drawing straight into Photoshop using a Wacom tablet.

Watercolour and Photoshop Life Painting 29.11.11

Portrait & Life Part 3: Watercolours

A nice thing about taking an art class is you can try out all sorts of techniques and mediums that might not suit the commissions you’re working on in your professional life.  I hadn’t touched watercolours for ages, but inspired by various children’s book illustrations and the excellent backgrounds in the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch, I really wanted to try them again.

Watercolour Life Painting 6.3.12

I love the paint’s translucency, especially against nice grainy paper.  The tricky thing is timing when to add another layer on top.  It’s great working over wet paint and getting a soft edges to each area of colour.  It gets frustrating though when you need to do fine sharp detail and the paint below isn’t dry yet.

The room itself makes a really difference to the drying speed.  On a wet day it can feel like forever, on a sunny day or a cold day with heaters in the room the paint can dry too fast if you’re not careful.  Back in my studio I can use a hairdryer to help control the process.

Watercolour Life Painting 15.11.11

These were all painted over a rough pencil guide.  Some artists work without this guide, filling in big areas of space and colour, then getting more and more precise with each layer.  I’ve given this a shot too but find that approach counter-intuitive, which is why I’m not displaying my attempts on this blog!

Watercolour Portrait 13.12.11

More work from my Portrait and Life class soon…

Portrait & Life Part 1: Ink Portraits

After I unveiled my David Lynch themed comic, a couple of friends were surprised at the art-style.  Not my usual more cartoony work.  Please note I do not use “cartoony” as a negative adjective as some people do.

I’m definitely being influenced by taking some Portrait & Life classes over the last half a year or so.  First time I’ve done Life drawing since Art College, where frankly I never really appreciated it.

It’s great to sit, observe and just draw or paint, not worrying about story, character or context.  The techniques learnt have crept into my comic and illustration work.

Ink wash Portrait 16.1.12

Hmmm… maybe the eyes on the face below do look cartoony, but as I say, that’s not a negative in itself so I don’t care!

Ink wash Portrait Face 16.1.12

Ink wash Portrait 13.12.11

I’ll post some more pics from my Portrait & Life sessions soon!