On Character Sketches and Perseverance by Fred Koehler

This whole weekend I was supposed to be writing, but all I could bring myself to do was draw. Oh well. Wherever the muses descend, right? I had a pirate story that needed some characters, and apparently I was hungry, so I drew this:

 

Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for the story, which was frustrating because I liked the characters. I ended up with my concept sketch looking something like this:

 

It didn't work at all the way I had hoped, and I’m thinking this is the point where most people give up. Or start from scratch. I saw it as a fun opportunity to stretch myself as an illustrator and see how I could take the intentions behind the illustration and make it work for the story. I redrew select parts of the characters, and ended up with these three sets of characters, and the last one worked perfectly for my story! (Yay!)

Cloudwatching - by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

This piece began as one of my Daily Doodles, where I experimented with a very loose and very sketchy line (no initial sketch/shapes) in Photoshop CS5:

I initially envisioned the little girl and her monster to be on a rooftop, but decided to put her on a hillside looking up at clouds in the sky instead:

I added some subtle shading in the bottom part of the hill to add a feeling of depth. I also used more than one pale grey for the clouds...again to add some texture and depth.

Next, I colored in the girl and the monster. Then, to make the hill look more like a natural part of the illustration, I added grass and flowers:

I drew in the stalks of grass by hand (digitally, that is) but did some cheating -- I only did a few sections, then copied and pasted those sections around the hill, altering the rotation a bit so it wouldn't look so obvious I was cutting and pasting. Then I added in some extra blades of grass here and there by hand.

Here's a screenshot of my layers, for those curious:

Yes, I love layers!

Next up: the fantabulous FRED KOEHLER.

I'm starting to blog about the process of creating I'm Bored (written by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by yours truly) with Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, for those interested. Included: photos, quotes, sketches & process info from the very beginning, working with editor Justin Chanda and art director Laurent Linn, through to finals and launch. I'd be delighted if you joined me.

-- Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Joe Bob Gristleneck the Banjo Playing Pig by Russ Cox

© Russ Cox | Smiling Otis Studio

For my post this week, I am continuing my adventure in painting with Photoshop. I am trying to capture my traditional style of using gouache and color pencil while maintaining bright, lively colors. Some of you may be saying "why not just paint it traditionally". Working digitally allows me to experiment more with colors and adjust the layout if I need to do so without redrawing it each time. I think each time you have to redraw a sketch, it tends to loose it freshness. Even though I do color and tonal roughs for balance and light placement, I still like playing with colors as I work. With this piece I really wanted a fun balance of complimentary colors to add life to the final illustration. By building the colors up in layers, allowed me to keep things bright. Working this way also allowed me to get a colored pencil looking texture in areas, especially the pig. I also wanted the original sketch to show through as much as possible. My goal is to do a new piece every two weeks and take what I learn from the previous illustration, to build upon the next one. Hopefully my portfolio will have a new look to it as well for the New York SCBWI conference in January. This experimenting really transfers over well to working traditionally. As artist we must continue to learn new things and improve on what we know.

Check in next week for what the wild and wonderful Debbie Ohi has in store for you. I am sure it will be a treat and learning experience for all.

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Photoshop method by Fred Koehler

It's a hot summer in Florida, and I thought I'd give you a glimpse of a Photoshop method I used with this sketch of my daughter at the swimming pool.

 Choose a base color for the background and sketch on a new layer.

Under the sketch layer, add dark and light values.

Create a new layer with the blend mode "color" and bring in some selective dominant color.

Add some interesting background detail and you're all done!

 

See more at freddiek.com and check back next week to hear from the magnificent Sheralyn Barnes.

Charlotte's Web by Hazel Mitchell

This weekend it's the New England SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) annual conference in Massachusetts. Every year there is a Poster Showcase Competition. This year the challenge is to redesign a landmark children's book cover. It was hard to choose! I decided on Charlotte's Web, because it involves animals and children in the drawing as well as being one of New England's most famous books.

GULP! There is, of course, a lot of responsibility that goes with reworking an already great cover. So I apologize to EB White and Garth Williams.

I decided to go for a much more emotionally driven version in an interior to create more drama. Here's the finished product:

It is created in pencil and then coloured in photoshop. I have also tried to stay much looser on the pencil work itself to create more feeling of movement - a trend I am working on in all my current illustrations.

Here's the process ....

 

First rough draft ....

More careful drawing ... note Fern's face shape changes and Wilbur is more pig like.

This is the the finished pencil drawing, then scanned into photoshop ...

Here it is during colouring ... I work as I would on a water colour from light to dark with few layers. I prefer to use the multiply setting on airbrush mostly and dodge/burn tools.

 

After feedback from crit friends I worked on the eyes, changing them back to my initial idea that she is glancing back. Also I got rid of her marshmallow mouth (see finished piece at top of this post). I also enhanced the shadows on the right with an extra layer.

The text was created separately in pencil, traced from a printout of a setup of the text on computer.

On a separate layer I dropped it in position and used the overlay and screen settings on brush to add colour and highlight the webs.

Here is the wonderful, wonderful original! I can't hope to come close to this classic, but I very much enjoyed working on the piece and will be interested to hear the reaction at NESCBWI.

Thanks for dropping by Pixel Shavings. Did you receive one of our postcards in the mail? If not please send us a message at pixelshavings@hotmail.com and we will get one in the post to you.

Call back next week to see what fab illustrator Russ Cox is up to!

Toodle Pip!
Hazel

see more of my work online at

http://hazelmitchell.com

copyright Hazel Mitchell 2011