Thursday 31 January 2013

Princess Tea Party

Now for something completely different from my last post.


I realise that my illustrations aren't really girly and I do tend to draw more boys than girls so decided to mix it up a little. I'm not entirely happy with the result but it was fun to do anyway. I enjoyed doing the childlike drawings for her wall although it's actually quite hard to do!

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Monkey Pirates Final Pt.

And here is the finished illustration!


I coloured the other characters the same way - flat colour then added textures. Then a little shadow and light to make them stand out.



 Hope you enjoyed getting an insight to my process and maybe picked up a few tips. Any questions, just ask!

Monkey Pirates pt.3

So now I'm onto colouring up the characters. I just lay some flat colours down and try and decide which colours to use. This is the difficult bit! I favour blue but with the sea and sky, this illustration has a lot of blue already.


I start adding in textures for the clothes. I have various textures I have scanned in myself (bits of clothing etc) and a few photographs that I use. As he's a pirate it makes sense to go with stripes.


After changing the colour of the textures and changing them again I finally decided on green for the pants (phew!).


I add some 'fur' to the monkey by using the brush tool but changing from a smooth brush to one that is more like a piece of chalk. Light and shadow is then added to make the monkey stand out more.


I just finish colouring the other characters the same way. 

Next time - the finished illustration!

Monday 28 January 2013

Monkey Pirates pt.2

Once the linework is sorted I start adding in the background. Using the gradient tool I add in a sky and paint in some clouds - going over my previous cloud lines.


But what has been missing from this illustration from the start? That's right, the sea!


I use the brush tool to add in some waves and slap on a quick water texture. I don't always start with the background, sometimes I might start with one of the characters in the scene. However, I find it best to at least lay some colour down so that when it comes to colouring the characters I can see what I'm doing. Especially if I'm using white!

After that it's onto laying some flat colours down for the rest of the scene - again sometimes I might focus on just one character. Completely colouring them and adding shadows etc. But for now I'm starting with the ship.


Now colouring is always a hard one, the best way to get it right is to experiment. Don't just go for the usual colours. My trick is to open other work I've done and use similar colours. My last two illustrations have involved boats so I just used the same colours.


Once I'm happy with the colours I start adding shadows and areas of light. I start adding in other bits of details such as markings on the boat. I don't worry about wobbly lines here and think it adds something extra. Now most people will probably colour the whole thing first and then add in the shadows. I like to see it taking shape early on! 

So that's the ship done for now. That doesn't mean I won't decide to add in things or change things I've already done later on though! Next it's onto colouring the characters and adding in textures.


Sunday 27 January 2013

Monkey Pirates!

I thought I would do a few posts on how I finish an illustration. I always start off on paper with a red pencil.



After sketching, rubbing out, sketching and rubbing out some more I finally get something I'm happy with. I then use a fineliner (staedtler triplus) to go over the lines. I try and not make too many mistakes. If I do then with only a little bit of cursing, I tell myself not to worry.



I scan it into Photoshop making sure it's at least 300dpi. I use the levels tool to darken the pen lines and get rid of the red pencil (regular pencil is harder to get rid of). I then select all of the pen lines and copy them into a new canvas. This makes sure that you're only left with nice sharp lines.



Now even though I've gotten rid of the pencil I'm still not happy with certain parts of it. I use the eraser tool to get rid of mistakes and edit parts of the drawing. You'll notice a difference in the boy's eyes - I never get eyes right first time!

Next it's onto colouring! 




New start!

Hello everyone!
I've decided to start a new blog since my style has changed so much. Also, the blog on my website isn't as adjustable as blogger. So here I am, back again.
A couple of a great things happened to me last year and one of them was being represented by the lovely Advocate Art. I've been getting a lot of direction from my agent, Hannah. So expect to see lots of new artwork!
Here is something to start you off - my most recent illustration.