Process: How Paula Works

This week we're blogging about our process or how we go about creating our illustrations/art. Usually, I do all my work--from the sketches to the final piece--digitally in Painter X (though sometimes I'll do thumbs on paper, if I decide to work outside my studio). Below is the process I went through to create the illustration for our recent IFK winter/Valentine group promo. The image on the lower, left is a grouping of thumbnail sketches. I did at least twice the amount that's shown as I try to encourage myself to come up with many ideas before I pick something to go with. In this case, after considering many concepts, I decided to go with a group of kids making a Valentine poster (rough sketch, lower, right)


Then, on to creating the final art. Below, left is most of the inking for the piece. I do all the elements in layer (e.g. each child, the poster, and the background objects are all separate layers) so I can move them, resize them, or even ditch them if I need to. Once the inking is done, I move on to coloring, which I also do in multiple layers. The background color, the kids' color, the poster, and the objects all are on their own layer. The color layers will be underneath the ink layers so they don't cover the ink layer. I have several favored brushes I use for colorizing, like oil brushes, chalks, and acrylic brushes. Once I've completed the piece, I clone it so it's flattened. And that clone is my finished illustation (bottom, right).

Holli's Process

This week's theme is "process". We are working on getting our Valentine's promo out this week and here is my little piece and my process.

I start out with a sketch.

I then draw everything in Illustrator.

And then I move it over to Painter where I add more depth and texture and then jump it over to Photoshop for my final file prep. Viola! And illustration :)

Valentine promo

This is a detail of my illustration for our latest promo for Valentine's Day. I work in watercolour but I find that the computer can be helpful. I start out with a few pencil sketches and try to work out the content and composition. Sometimes this comes easily and sometimes (this time) I take ages trying to come up with something I like. It's nice to get the chance to do something creative though, something that I can make up myself.

At this point I don't worry too much about the exact size. Sometimes I find it easier to sketch things at a small scale so I don't have to get bogged down by all the details.Then I scan the sketch into the computer and use Photoshop to do some tweaking. At this point I can touch up things that don't quite look right and adjust the scale of the whole piece. Sometimes I add a bit of colour just to see how it will work generally. It's very rough, but I can imagine how the final art will look.

Then I transfer the sketch to watercolour paper. I use transfer paper to do this, it's paper covered with graphite. You place your sketch over it and when you trace your sketch with pencil faint lines are transferred to the watercolour paper.
The next step is inking the lines onto the paper. I use a pen with waterproof ink so that the paint won't smudge it. Sometimes I use a nib pen at this stage and bottle ink in black or sepia. I find the lines with a nib pen are more varied in thickness and this can be nice for some pieces. Then finally it's time to paint!

Process

The process I go through each time I create an illustration consist of the same steps no matter what media I'm working in:

1. I sketch rough thumbnail sketches to come up with the right idea and composition.
2. I scan the sketch(es) I want to keep working on.
3. I figure out the colors in Photoshop. This way it's quick and easy to try different colors.
4. I print my sketch in the size I want to paint it.
5. I trace my sketch onto the paper I will paint on using a light box.
6. I paint! (usually in acrylic paints or ink and watercolors)
7. I scan my final illustration, and use Photoshop to make color corrections if needed.

Animals Do Math

To see the process behind this illustration, check it out here. Happy Friday to all!

This Week's Animals

Yes, Holli's day is Wednesday (such a cute o'possum, don'tcha think?), and Thursday is MY day to post. As you can see, "animals" is our theme choice for this week. I, too, have had several animals to draw in projects I've been working on. I assembled a few of them, above, pulling segments from a magazine spread, the others from roughs for greeting cards. I've heard some artists/illustrators say that they prefer drawing animals over people. I can't say I have a perference. As long as I can create a fun, lively character, it doesn't matter whether it's a girl or a squirrel!

Rich animals

This week's topic, animals, gives me an opportunity to share some rather random illustrations I get to do. Here's one from a math workbook. (By the way, they are thinking, "We would rather have some euros!")

The Opossum

I'm a little late for posting this today but wanted to squeeze it in since Wednesday is my committed day to post and it's too early in the year to start slacking on it! This week's theme is animals and this morning I had some animal sketches due and the above it one of them. An "opossum". I prefer "possum" my self because it just is weird the other way even though it might be correct. Possums are really pretty ugly animals and since I am in Nashville, I started thinking about the old country music singer George Jones and how his nickname is "The Possum." I don't think it's a compliment, but he does look a little possum-ish!

Ye Scurvy Dog

Here's a recent promo piece that I did. I always thought this chunky style would lend itself well to a pirate theme. So here is my take on a scurvy dog - AARGH!

Rabbit valley

This is an older illustration of mine, some rabbits enjoying the winter weather. It's snowing today so it seemed suitable.

It's maybe a little old-fashioned, as many of my illustrations seem to accidentally become, I don't see these wooden sleds anymore anyway! But at least sledding never goes out of style.

Animals

I've always loved animals, and I want to have most of the animals I see on TV as pets (that's not gonna happen anytime soon...). For some reason there's not been a lot of animals in my illustrations earlier. Lately I've done something about this, and I'm getting better at including a cat or a dog - or a cow, in my pictures. Here's some farm animals for you to say hello to.

Jannie's Resolution

"Be Great in 2008?" Or how about "Eat Cake in 2008?" (my personal favorite). Yes, indeed Holli took the best rhyme!

I've noticed while blog surfing that many people come up with a theme for the new year. I thought it was a great idea, and the word for me would be Structure. On the illustration front I am sailing along, but I've been struggling with work/life balance as a freelancer working from home. I never thought that would be such an issue, since how great is it to work from home? In a lot of ways, it is. But there are alot of downsides that I would like to address this year, and also other little things:

*keep a more regular schedule: I'm admittedly a night owl. There are days when I go to sleep at 5am and wake up at noon. Especially in the winter, I'd like to catch more sunlight. Although some parts of me think why I need to fight this. Its the natural rhythm of my body. But I don't think its too healthy in the end.

*leave the house more: When your work is fun and your work space is five paces away from your bedroom, the days can pass and you realize you haven't left the house for a while. A walk is always good physically and mentally.

*Organizing that paper pile: since I still sketch by paper and pencil, there is the inevitable paper pile next to the desk. To remedy this, I'd like to start learning how to sketch on the computer. I have a wacom tablet and have tried it in the past, it still doesn't seem very natural to me yet.

Other goals include writing my own children's book and learning flash. There I said it. Now I 'm really going to be held accountable!

Maybe you're liking the look of your fate as it is, but if you think it could use improving upon, the above could be a great motto for you in 2008. Ah, I'm just kidding. Holli took the best word to rhyme with 2008 for her "resolution" motto, so I just grabbed something else--ANYthing else! But seriously, whatever your perspective is on fate or destiny, we can all agree that most of us can do many things to move our careers along. We agreed that this week on our blog, we'd tackle the topic of "resolutions". So, though I haven't made a classic list of resolutions for 2008, there are things I'd like to accomplish this year in my business, and they are:

-Managing my own website. Presently my husband is my website's keeper so I'd like to learn our website building software and build and manage it myself. For me, that's a pretty steep learning curve, but I hope to accomplish that as the year progresses.

-Become familiar with classical artists/illustrators. I actually started this in December by checking out a book on the Wyeths, but I'd like to spend more time reading about the lives of other artists to broaden my familiarity and knowledge of what others have done.

-Join a local art group or take a class. I'll probably hold this off until the summer because I usually relocate for part of the winter season, but since I live close to a community art center, I should take advantage of things like this. You know...Get out and hang out with other artists. It's not something I ever do.

As for moving forward in my medium of drawing and illustration, I'd like to:

-Keep-a sketching. That's one of the best new things that I'd taken up in the last year or so and I don't want to let that go dormant again. I want to keep working and pushing myself to draw out of my comfort zone by using mediums I wouldn't normally use as well as tackle subject matter that I'm not comfortable with. I can only get better if I keep drawing/sketching.

-Keep-a cartooning. It's my first discipline and my dominant one. I'd like to do more with this and/or take in a bigger direction. I still have to think about this one, but it's on my list.

-Keep-a illustrating. One thing I thought about here was to experiment with some diverse color schemes. I was never much of a colorist and I so love seeing the palettes others choose in their art. I want to experiment more in this respect.

I have other ideas I'm brewing over in my mind. Executing these ideas and 'resolutions' is another matter, so I'm leaving it at just sharing some of my thoughts per what I'd LIKE to see happen in my business and art this coming year.

Resolutions

Strong colors

The left image is an illustration I painted for Illustration Friday in 2006. The topic was "sticky", and it's created with ink and watercolors. A few weeks ago I found this illustration and wondered how it would look if I used acrylic paints. I was happy with the bright colors in the first version, but I know that the acrylic colors always look stronger. And I was right. I love how the colors came out in the second version!

Snowman

Since most of us have shown our holiday cards, I thought I'd show mine since it's more winter related than anything and well, it's winter here.

My 3 year old picked out all the snowflakes :)