Process for the 12 x 12 project

Tags

children's illustrations, digital painting, etiquette lessons, picture book, tomboy, writing workshop

I am officially participating in the 12 x 12 Group which means I am committing to WRITING rough drafts for 12 picture books this year! To get jump started I am taking a Picture Book Writing workshop with Richard Jesse Watson in a couple of weeks, and I am like a kid waiting for Christmas morning!

At this point I am still telling stories with pictures, but words will hopefully follow along as soon as I get the nerve up. The following images are my character exploration for a story about a tomboy who has to take etiquette lessons. She obviously has the most problem with the idea of wearing WHITE gloves. . . how will she ever keep them clean?!

Quick Peek at Texture Making for the Jonah Project

I’ll come back in tomorrow and add the words to these images.

Process for Young Adult Fantasy Novel Cover

Over the next few days I’ll be posting the screen grabs collected while working on this project.

While I had originally budgeted for two weeks, I ended up going three to satisfy both the client and myself. 

From point A to point Z. . . there and back again.

Normally I would say this is too much detail for the cover of a book, but sure enough I was talking with the printer today and the client is having a poster made. So at least this time zooming in and painting with teeny brushes was worth it. The golden glow is garment made of light, as the author described it,  a thick garment made of light which however has mass and can be touched.

To start off, the client sent me a file as her idea of the style she would like to see me match. Oh, sure, no problem. If I could paint like the Brothers Hildebrandt, my heroes since youth, I would be very, very happy. I studied the color and light, then headed in that general direction with no misguided hopes that I would end up with a piece of that caliber.

The following images show the many changes that Jason Nelson- Background Sketches, Rachel Teigrob Willis- Character Sketches, and myself- Art Direction and Painting,  produced in the creation of this book cover.

Process for Wee Willie Winkie

This is the finished image with the orange hair color pumped up a bit.

This change was suggested by Dan Santat during the SCBWI-WWA Master’s Class at the annual regional conference last April.

The following is the early sketch group from Jason Nelson per my art direction.

He zeroed in on what I wanted in just five sketches!

In a flash, Jason sent this tighter sketch back to me and I loved it!

Next up are the early character sketches from Rachel Teigrob Willis.
After much research in the area of traditional Scottish nightgowns and brogues,

I sent Rachel some of my suggestions and she threw back a few quick ideas.

I was drawn to the last one she sketched and she ran with that one. . .
As Rachel was “finding” Willie, I dropped her early sketches in for position only over Jason’s sketch, and threw some color at it.

Rachel took my layout and had much more fun with it than I did!

Next I dropped Rachel’s character sketches onto Jason’s background sketch using Photoshop.

My favorite part of the process is being very open handed during the early creation stages. Watching Rachel and Jason interpret my thoughts is pure delight as I never know what kind of wonderful ideas they will incorporate into their exploration, and the piece is much richer for it.

So this is the combined sketches with early color indications. . .

Next up will be the changes I made and the painting process during the week. From research to finished piece was one week, which is not bad for getting three freelancers to match their schedules!

click to see the enlarged version

How many changes can you see that I made as I painted the finished piece?

I see about 14!

In the one above, you can see that I thought this Willie was too close to the edge, so I moved him in a bit, then decided to make him smaller.

This was a funny change, because at first I did not realize that Rachel had drawn a hat hanging on his back, I thought it was his arm. So after we laughed over the misunderstanding, she actually redrew it into an arm.

There is a big change here. I thought the rooflines in the rear should have more movement so I used the warp tool to curve them slightly.

Here you can see that I am working on the Willie coming down the stairs. I felt he was somewhat taller and older looking than the one running across the front. So I shortened and thickened up his leg, and Rachel changed his face to a bigger smile.

On this one I asked Rachel to redraw the back foot. It is a subtle change but I felt it defined the foot better.

And here I have changed the top rails which were straight. Now they have more of a curve which matches the other curves in the image.

And now some screen grabs of the files to show how the layers are set up:

This is a fairly straight forward file set-up, with no blending modes on the layers. I painted it very much like I would have had I been using traditional acrylics.

The bottom layer is the combined sketches, not necessary, just for viewing purposes.

Over that I placed a red wash to give the piece some warmth even though it will be a night scene.

The image above shows the two sketches on separate layers at the top of the file. These layers were set to “multiply” so I could see through them. The painting was done on the layer just above the red wash.

Again, this was not a complicated file, having very few layers.

Above you can see that I have the rough background finished with two groups of layers above it. Everything is still being painting “under” the sketches at this point.

Again, still painting under the sketches.

As I move into the final painting, and am sure that I will not be making any major changes, I make a new file with all of the layers merged. At this point I am now painting “over” the sketches and redrawing all of the lines to do the final clean-up.

Process on the Charlie Project- Step-by-Step

First I opened in Corel Painter Jason’s sketch of the deep furrow that Charlie will fall into.

The sketch was on the canvas layer, and I added a watercolor layer over it and washed in a base red like I would have done with traditional acrylic or oils. I like to follow the contours of the shapes when I lay in the base washes. After I had the watercolor layer finished, I threw the sketch in the trash and saved out just the red layer. I saved that file as a psd and opened it in Photoshop.

In Photoshop I brought in the sketch layer and set it to multiply then created a new layer between the sketch layer and the base red layer.

Here I have glazed in a wash over the sky area on the middle layer.

At this point, I lock the sketch layer and any other layers I want to protect from accidentally painting on them.

As I begin to work with opaque paint, I use a simple hard round set to texture, which is a traditional canvas texture.

Then I opened the rough sketch drawn by Rachel of Charlie falling into the furrow. This layer is also set to multiply and locked. Under that layer I begin to wash in the color of Charlie’s clothing, face and hair.

During the process Jason and I began to discuss the work of Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, as Jason’s backgrounds were taking on a very organic quality that reminded me of their work. You can see the influence in the clouds on the next image.

At this point Rachel was ready to redraw Charlie as he tumbles, so Jason and I made popcorn and watched her upload one fun variation after another. How she cranks these out is beyond me.

We analyzed the composition and gestalt for eye flow, and after a lively discussion we land on one that we believe tells the story best, which is Charlie’s dismay at dropping the pumpkin seeds.

Then we threw in more pumpkin seeds, although Jason commented that Charlie looked like he was using his spidey powers to throw the seeds, so I removed the one directly in his palm.

Still not finished. Rachel and Jason will do a final redraw and I’ll do final paint.

Process on the Charlie Project- the Tractor

I started experimenting with base washes over Jason’s sketch of the big Titan tractor.

 

And some point we realized the tractor had to be facing the opposite direction, so the light source also had to change, meaning I had to repaint a good portion of the tractor.

After getting the base colors in, we decided to make the tractor dark gray/black with red wheels, as that was the factory standard at the time. The wheels are not tires, just metal with protruding metal ridges, so getting them back to red helps define them better. Also the bright red canopy was distracting from Charlie and his Grandfather, so the darker gray was a better choice to help draw the eye to Charlie.

 

click to enlarge

This is enough information at this point to move to the next illustration. Once I have the base color on every page, and we’ve had a chance to analyze the flow, final paintings will be started.

Pounding Painter into Submission

Ask not what Painter can do, ask what you can make Painter do. I think the most difficult aspect of working with any software is not relying on the default settings, but forcing the software to cooperate with your own personal vision.

And often I have found that getting “the look” from one particular software package can be akin to beating the proverbial dead horse. At some point it just makes sense to find another package which more clearly matches the internal vision.

For the current project I am finding myself digging back into Corel Painter again, after having left it in the dark for almost a year. But I want to imitate a late 40s style and the watercolor brushes in Painter are just what I am looking for.

So the past week was spent in late night fist fights with Painter, tweaking brushes until I finally have a custom set of brushes ready to go. Feels good.

My muses for this project are Al Dempster and Bill Justice, famed Disney illustrators who collaborated on the Little Golden Book “Uncle Remus”. Many of the images can be seen at the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive.

I am enthralled with this image. . .the color, shapes, and textures are luscious! And while I normally use Photoshop for my digital work, Painter was the obvious choice for recreating these watercolor/gouache paintings. Once I have the base washes in place, I most likely will finish out the illustrations in Photoshop, mainly because of my comfort level and speed at which I can work. Photoshop and I have been constant companions for 16 years, so rest assured dear friend, you will be my BFF.

The following are a few of the tests I did while experimenting with Painter’s exquisite brushes. As a disclaimer, I was looking at the work of illustrators I enjoy, working at matching techniques, so several of the following are not original designs. I will come back and add their names as I find them.

Some of my notes as I went through the brushes:

As you can see from the image above, my explorations filled pages with scribbles and washes, which I would delete then start over again. This went on for hours every evening as I quested for the magic brush and enchanted pencil, and while I am sure there is much more to explore, the base is there to start the initial color explorations over Rachel’s and Jason’s line work.

Sneak peeks of the Charlie process

The team is busy with research and sketching. We’ve received initial feedback and approval from Molly Crocker, the author and are moving to have final drawings at the end six weeks, at which point I will start the painting. We have a target date for the end of March, so I’ll be very busy bringing the color to life.

Charlie and the Pumpkin Seeds is a true story written by Molly about her father when he was a boy. We are fortunate to have a few photos of the house and the large IHC Titan 45 tractor out in the field with Charlie, his uncle, and father.

Identifying the specific type of tractor was fun research which ended at youtube. These old tractors have been rebuilt and are amazing to watch.

The following are random screen grabs of the photo album we set up on FB to share our ideas, from thumbnails, to model sheets, to color tests.

Jason Nelson and Rachel Teigrob Willis have been busy as a tag team, working to bring the backgrounds and characters together for first presentation to Molly. There is much refining to do but they are well on their way to bringing it all together.

And yes, they actually did stop the big Titan and let Charlie climb up into the cab!

And of course what would any story be without the antagonist! Actually Uncle John is a pretty nice fellow, but at one point in the story he has to fuss at Charlie for making what seems to be a mistake.

One of the color tests, although her skirt looks a bit too much like satin. Charlie’s mama is not beating Charlie! ;)

We don’t want to give away too much of the story, but I hope you have enjoyed watching the process.

Returning to geisha on a lighted path

It has been awhile since I worked on this piece, so I pulled it up yesterday, did some reworking, and scribbled in more detail. The geisha’s face is not working for me, so I am rebuilding it, which of course makes it worse! Thank goodness this is not watercolor!

As much as I loved working in watercolor, the ability to change my mind with digital art is entirely too appealing to ever go back, although I still have all of my traditional materials. Sometimes I pull out a sheet of 300lb Lanaquarelle and enjoy the beauty of the surface.

Maybe. Someday. And I put it carefully away.

The best laid plans. . .

Most of your know my father just passed away, so my life is temporarily on hold. I’ll get back to the Photoshop step-by-step in early May. In the meantime I thought I would share some sketches done by Rachel Teigrob Willis for three upcoming books we are producing.

The story is being written by Jason Nelson, is set to rhyme, and will have music the kids can sing-a-long with! Here’s a sample of Jason’s Rough Draft Mar 03/23/10 10:22 with Rachel’s initial ideas:

The hen and her chicks

They had been there all morning

When along came the shadow

It came without warning.

Scrambling for safety

The chicks made quick flight

Till tethered to their mother

With yarn wrapped up tight.

The cloud roared with thunder a

As he laughed at the sight

Of the hen and her chickens

All tangled with fright.

Up looked the hen

To the cloud in the sky

“You’ve ruffled my feathers,”

She said with a cry.

“Please leave here right now

You’re not welcome to stay

Now take all your darkness

And thunder away.”

He grinned to himself

As he thought how instead

A bucket of water

He’d pour on her head.

Then just as the rain came

And the hen’s hope did fade

Up dashed a goat

With an umbrella to their aid.

____________________________

This is some of the early work of Charlie and the Pumpkin Seeds written by Molly Crocker. We have tossed this book around for several years and are finally getting down to the actual illustrating. It will be ready by Christmas.

It was a beautiful spring morning.  Charlie jumped out of bed at the sound of the big tractor working across the road.  They were plowing some more of the hay field today.  This was the first year the hay field had ever been plowed. “Mother!  Mother!”  he shouted.  “I want to go see the tractor!” Mother laughed at Charlie’s big eyes and hopeful face.  “You need to eat some breakfast first,” she said.  “Then you can go across the road and help your uncles plant some corn.”  She made Charlie put on his overalls, make his trundle bed and put it away while she got his breakfast ready.

These were color tests for the author, Molly Crocker, to review:

Lastly the story of Freddy the Fox. As always I am just the painter and background artist. I think of McCoy telling Kirk, “Damnit Jim, I’m just a painter not a character artist!”