On another type of progress report, I thought I'd document the different stages of the last spread that I painted. It is, of course, Bea's joyful return to the flock after her outrageous adventures.
DAY 1:
I start by transferring my sketch to my ready-and-waiting paper. I color in (old school) the back of the sketch with an orangey Prismacolor pencil, then flip it over and re-trace the drawing to transfer it. I like the orangey color- it gives a warmth to the final piece.
DAY 2:
Do my first light color washes. I use all types of things in my paintings- acrylic paint for the large stretches, and marker, pens, and Prismacolors for les details.
DAY 3:
Doesn't look too different from Day 2, does it?!? It's rather frustrating- after laying in the basic colors, I always think to myself, "Ooh, almost done!". I'm always surprised by how long the actual layering & defining takes. There's a bit more contrast & definition in this one, though.
Oh, and when I say "Day"- I'm not usually working from 9-5 on these. My painting "days" usually last between, oh, 7 or 8 pm to midnight or 1 (depending on my schedule/sleepiness factors)
DAY 4:
Almost there! I'm getting heavier & more saturated colors on the grass, & a bit more definition on those otherwise pudgy sheep.
TA-DA!
All done! It's not really a fair comparison, color-wise, because I scanned the final piece on our nice scanner at work, compared to the crappy photos taken by my equally crappy camera. But still, you get the idea!
3 comments:
Well done. It'll be fun to see the final book. Thanks for sharing your process!
It looks so lovely by the end!
It's always nice to see gradual build up of colour - I used to use oil paints a lot, I guess in a similar way to how you use your acrylics, and gradually applying washes is the only way to get that lovely translucent and glowing effect. Do you ever find though, that you just want to splurge the colour on at the start? It was always my downfall, that moment when I just wanted to let loose!
Thanks, Kristi & Al!
Yah, I like the translucent effect of all that layering. And oddly enough, no, I'm never really tempted to splurge on color at the beginning. I'm more of a timid painter than that, I guess. Of course, I was the type of kid to save my cookies or candy until my brothers had devoured theirs, just to lord it over them later- so i'm no stranger to delayed gratification.
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