As the owner of a brand new business specializing in ink drawings of witches I'm not sure how to add C&B's voice to the current political landscape just yet. I'm working on it. So I'll keep it simple for now: I see you. I hear you. I stand by you with my voice and my dollars. And I vow to continue educating myself to ensure that Crooked & Beautiful is productively supportive. We have a ton of work to do and I'm here for it. Stay tuned. |
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In other news, I entered an illustration into SVS Learn's May art contest. The prompt for this month was "Isolation." Here's how it went down. |
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| Step 1: Brainstorming and Thumbnailing |
| I originally toyed around with an idea inspired by a picture I took at my favorite bar. During a particularly quiet lunch one Saturday, I looked up to find a dark, moody room deserted but for one man, silhouetted by a big window, lost in a book. I liked this image so I decided to thumbnail some ideas for an illustration based on it. | |
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| Step 2: I changed my mind. |
| Walking down the street one day, something random reminded me of this music video about an old guy who lives by himself in a remote lighthouse. I remember it leaving me with a weird mixture of sadness, comfort, and mystery. Those feelings came back immediately when I was reminded of the song. This was interesting to me so I shifted focus. This image began to materialize very quickly. | |
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| Step 2: I changed my mind. |
| Walking down the street one day, something random reminded me of this music video about an old guy who lives by himself in a remote lighthouse. I remember it leaving me with a weird mixture of sadness, comfort, and mystery. Those feelings came back immediately when I was reminded of the song. This was interesting to me so I shifted focus. This image began to materialize very quickly. | |
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| Step 3: Roughs with Value and Subject Studies |
| Next, I took this concept to the value stage. The SVS guys always say that a good value study looks like a "puzzle for a dumb guy." In other words, simple. I tried to keep it to 4 or 5 strong values. This was beginning to look very graphic—cool! | |
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| Next up, the pencil sketch. I knew I wanted to render this in ballpoint pen but because I intended to go pretty dark with the whole piece, I wanted to make sure I knew where I'd be throwing down all this tone. | |
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| Next up, the pencil sketch. I knew I wanted to render this in ballpoint pen but because I intended to go pretty dark with the whole piece, I wanted to make sure I knew where I'd be throwing down all this tone. | |
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| Step 5: Pencil Refinement and the Abandonment of the Scanner |
| I began to pick up the pace at this point so I stopped intermittent scanning. I just snapped some photos with my cell phone and kept moving. In this step, you can see the addition of some detail within the island as well as the cloud cover on the horizon. | |
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| I figured I would start with the darkest areas and work my way up to the lightest ones. Darkness would be my limiting factor here, so I needed to make sure that I didn't go too dark too soon and ruin the value balance I determined above. It's pen; you can't take it back once you've gone too far. Locking in the darkest tone upfront holds that boundary. | |
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| I figured I would start with the darkest areas and work my way up to the lightest ones. Darkness would be my limiting factor here, so I needed to make sure that I didn't go too dark too soon and ruin the value balance I determined above. It's pen; you can't take it back once you've gone too far. Locking in the darkest tone upfront holds that boundary. | |
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| Step 7: Time for the Water |
| I really like rendering water this way. I used this technique on another piece last year. These strokes are long and straight with no discernible beginning or end. The imperfection of drawing long lines without a ruler gives the water a natural undulation. It takes forever to build but it's worth it. | |
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| For the sky, I actually did a bit of research. There are a handful of pencil/ink illustrators I admire who I lean on for ideas. This time, I consulted Edward Gorey and decided to use his approach for the sky. He uses very small, tight hatches with clear directionality to cover large areas. It gives the piece a sense of movement. | |
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| For the sky, I actually did a bit of research. There are a handful of pencil/ink illustrators I admire who I lean on for ideas. This time, I consulted Edward Gorey and decided to use his approach for the sky. He uses very small, tight hatches with clear directionality to cover large areas. It gives the piece a sense of movement. | |
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| Step 9: The Color Saga Begins |
| I liked the final pen but I wanted to enhance the focal point and create a more dramatic mood for the sake of the illustration contest so I decided to add color digitally in Procreate. This attempt was close to what I had in mind but the blue was a little too domineering. | |
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| Step 10: Oh I know! What if I got rid of all the color except the boat light?? |
| Ew, no. That did exactly the opposite of what I wanted. The yellow got lost in the sea of pen strokes and completely killed the contrast of that boat highlight. | |
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| Step 10: Oh I know! What if I got rid of all the color except the boat light?? |
| Ew, no. That did exactly the opposite of what I wanted. The yellow got lost in the sea of pen strokes and completely killed the contrast of that boat highlight. | |
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| Step 11: Puzzle for a Dumb Guy for the Win |
| So I returned to the concept of creating a puzzle for a dumb guy and decided to increase the contrast between the water and the sky. This worked well. What was previously one-ish muddy value suddenly became 3 distinct values. Muuuch better. I'll let you know how it goes! | |
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| Recent Additions to the Shop |
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On Mondays (sometimes Tuesdays), I ramble for a while about what it's like to try to build an art business while juggling a full time job and an overabundance of hobbies. |
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That's all for today folks! Stay safe out there. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and I'll be back in your inbox next month. |
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