Gladys And Her Cat by Russ Cox

© 2012 Russ Cox | Smiling Otis Studio

In celebration of Valentine's Day, I decided to work up a sketch I had lying around my studio that I called "Gladys And Her Cat". It is based on how children usually carry a cat around the house. I though adding the drawings hanging on the wall would help emphasize her love for her cat.

This is a tighter version of the sketch. I lightened the nose and mouth on Gladys so the line work would not stand out in the final art. The line work was converted to a dark purple to give it a bit more life than using black.

Using the multiply layer in Photoshop, I did a grayscale underpainting which I duplicated and then added a red tint. This makes it a two layer toned underpainting so that I have a dark value to paint on which helps the final art colors pop.

Working like a traditional painting, I started from the back by painting in the walls, patterns, baseboards, and floor. This helps me decide what colors to use for the main images and prevents color revisions later on by trying to get a background color to work with all of the main elements. The final art layers are set to "normal" but have my brushes set to 20-45% opacity. By doing this, it allows me to build up the color.

I then painted the drawings by using a crayon-like brush. I though the paper should be a few colors like construction paper. The dog and mouse were painted next.

Continuing moving to the front, Gladys was painted in the next step. I thought having her as a redhead would help solidify the concept of "love". 

The valentine's card and cat were painted. I used my orange cat as a model for color and attitude. Sometimes I will play with the saturation if I find the colors getting flat as I work. Gladys' skin tone got a mild boost so she looks more lively.

I thought I was about done with the illustration but the floor seemed too bare and boring. Building on the drawings in the background, I decided to add some additional drawings on the floor with a few crayons laying about. I quickly sketched the new items out, scanned them, and added them onto a new layer which I multiplied so the white drops out and the line work is  showing. Working digitally allows one to add and subtract images as they work without having to start over. 

The final image has the new elements painted, some of the line work beefed up and highlights added. 

You can view more of my work at:

www.smilingotis.com
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Smiling Otis Studio Blog

Tune in next week to see what the talented Debbie Ohi has up her sleeve!

Random Act Of Publicity - by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Just received some good news this week! My illustrated short story, "Kodama," has been accepted for inclusion in Stone Bridge Press's YA fiction anthology, TOMO. Editor: Holly Thompson. Proceeds from the book will go toward teens affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011.

But now to the meat of today's post...

Hazel Mitchell, at the SCBWI Illustrator Intensive in LA,
holding a copy of the book I just purchased from her.

In honor of Random Acts Of Publicity Week, my post today focuses on a RAP about a book Hazel illustrated: TICK, TOCK, TAYLOR, written by Anastasia Suen. Here's how I created an image in Photoshop as part of today's RAP.

First, I scooped the cover image and put it on a separate layer, over the basic outline of my RAP cat:

I used a layer mask to clear the bit of cover that was going to have the cat's paw covering it. I also wanted an interesting background, so filled the bottom-most layer with a solid color:

As I continue to learn Photoshop CS5, I've been exploring its brush presets. One of my favorite libraries is the "M Brushes" preset. The cool cross-hatch texture in the background is one of the brushes from that preset:

Next, on other layers, I added the cat's coloring (with brushes from the same library) and the t-shirt, made some tweaks to fix the angle of the arm on the left.

Ta-daa!

Next week: the fabulous Fred Koehler.

Find out more about me at DebbieOhi.com.

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