"Cave of Montesinos" Process

I love seeing other artists' processes, so I like to share my own now and then. I've been using these Don Quixote pieces as a way to explore/experiment with my working methods, which have become more and more a mix of digital and traditional approaches.

After rereading the chapter I intend to illustrate and making some notes, character sketches, and thumbnail composition sketches, I drew this sketch. Just pencil in my sketchbook. I scanned it at a high resolution and began to play with it in Photoshop.
The undead knight who is reclining with the cards is based on a sepulchral effigy from 1500s Spain.

Next, I added a paper texture I scanned years ago. This gives the image an old-fashioned, natural feel. I used a multiply layer.

Now that I have my sketch and a basic texture, I'm ready to start with the background. I tried a few different colors for the sky (one of the luxuries of digital work!), and settled on this green because I felt it gave the picture an eerie, off-kilter feel. The architecture of the castle is based on medieval/Renaissance buildings from Spain (the setting of the novel). Throughout Don Quixote, the Moorish culture is referenced, so I  thought an allusion to that in the architecture would be fitting here. At the time the book was written, the Moors (Muslims) and Jews had recently been expelled from Spain.

With the background more or less in place, I painted a block of shade to create my basic value structure. I wanted the figures to be in shadow, almost silhouettes when you squint, and the background to be brightly lit.

I added a couple layers (multiply) of shadow to establish some of the basic modeling of the figures.

Next, I began to work out the local color of the figures and their costumes, and continued to build up layers of light and shade.

I finished modeling the figures, and then added a few more layers (multiply) of shadow to deepen and reassert my value structure, which had begun to become lost in the modeling of the figures. I also wanted this area to be warmer, so I used a sepia/orange color.

The painting portion is pretty much complete now, so I drew a new layer of lines. I'm essentially creating an ink drawing over the image at this point. But it's digital.

Another texture element I worked with here can be seen above. I imported a texture dot pattern--it's a piece of gray film stock scanned at high resolution. When used as an "overlay" layer it creates a nice, subtle, dot-grain effect. If you click on the above image to see it larger, you can see more clearly how this grain pattern helps the modeled layers look more natural. The original image is on the left, while the image on the right has the grain overlay.

In total, there are some 50-60 layers of color and texture in this image.

My last step is simply to clean up the edges, outline the box and sign it. All done!

I hope this was helpful to someone--I learn a lot from seeing how others work! My digital methods are probably not the most advanced out there, but I'm enjoying the exploration.

How I Make Some Of My Paintings

Process: Cardinal Painting

I begin a painting like the above by applying gesso to a 5" x 7" wood panel, and sketch directly on this prepared surface. I sketch using photo reference to get the shapes right, but I interpret these shapes to emphasize what I want to emphasize. You can see in my sketch that I changed the shape of the bird's belly, filling it out a little to complement the curvature of the wings. These complementary curves harmonize the image and give at a pleasant rhythm to me. The branch (a shape I wholly invented without any regard for the shapes presented in my reference photos) is a kind of reverse curve, mirroring the belly, and harmonizing the whole. I love creating these sorts of subtle rhythms in an image.

I paint my birds with acrylic. For this painting, I chose to start with a very watery background layer in order to create some soft, unpredictable background patterns. I also chose to limit my palette in this image to only Cadmium Red Light and Phthalo Green (and Titanium White). Lately I've come to really enjoy the challenge and the freedom that comes with the limited palette. It's exciting to take two or three colors and push them as far as I can figure out how. The colors in this image are fairly simple.
Anyhow, the background is just a mix of red, green, and a lot of water, to create a varied greenish-brown tone.

Once the background is dry, I started to paint in the bird. The paint here is much more opaque, allowing the soft background to recede, and the sharper, fuller bird to "pop out" more. Again, I'm just using the red and green (and white) to create to various shades of red, brown, and black on the cardinal's body.

At this point, I'm starting to think more about how the background and the bird relate. I want to make sure the bird is clear--I want a strong, almost graphic outline to the figure of the bird. A strong silhouette. So I've gone in with a little white mixed into my neutral brown-green tones and emphasized the value contrast around the bird. I want it to clearly look like a cardinal even from a distance, and for the background to not compete. If you squint, you should see what I'm driving at--a clearly defined bird shape popping out from a neutral background.
I also start making some decisions about the branch. I'm not sure yet exactly what color or value I'll want, but I'm beginning to consider it more directly.

Now I'm going back into the bird and enriching the color, as well as adding further detail. I'm mixing the green and red directly to push the black eye-area as dark as it will go in the context of my chosen palette. I'm breaking up the wing area into defined sections and suggesting the long pinfeathers. I chose to darken the tip of the wing on the left, bringing it to a sharper point than it is in nature. This is just to emphasize the shape and silhouette again, and to use value contrasts to pop it from the background again.

Just about finished now. I've gone in with a smaller brush and added some further detail. I worked out the eye, using some green in the reflected areas and allowing the brightest highlight to be in the eye. This gives my bird some personality, even if it's not 100% realistic, and the green also sets it off from the surrounding red nicely. I brightened my red, added a few shiny highlights on the breast feathers (not too strong), and worked out the bill. I have the bill a highlight almost as bright as the eye, but not quite. I also gave it a hint of a smile, to add to the personality and detract from the naturalism. I'm really painting characters with these birds more than nature studies.
Also, I made my decisions on the branch, giving it a colder light and slightly warmer shadow. I think this harmonizes and contrasts well, and doesn't bring too much attention to itself.

Once again, the final painting. Hope this was interesting. I enjoyed the process, experimented a little, played with my limited palette, and had a nice time of it. Total time, about an hour and a half.

Don Quixote: Master Pedro's Puppet Show (Ink)

I'm trying out a slightly different method for this image, part of my Don Quixote series. First, I inked in my sketch using a brush and India ink.

Then, over a light table, I used the India ink again, watered down this time, to create the shading.

I combined the two in Photoshop, keeping them on separate layers. This will allow me to easily keep the line drawing separate from the shading.

I'll post the color final as soon as I finish it.

Making Of Mambrino's Helmet

Here is a little demo of the digital process I've been using for my continuing Don Quixote series. First, of course, I do some small thumbnail sketches to determine the composition. Then I draw the image with a brush and ink. I scan the drawing, then copy and paste the drawing to create a new channel in Photoshop. This allows me to color over the top of my drawing, leaving the background blank. I add a layer of flat color, and place it underneath the line drawing. This keeps the lines on top crisp and unmuddled. Then I add a layer of lights and a layer of darks, to provide some shading and color variation, and to emphasize the forms a bit. Then I use a texture of old paper that I've scanned and place it over the color. Finally, I have another ink drawing I've created, which I scanned to create the heavenly light. I deleted the helmet area because I didn't want the light obscuring it. The image below shows the ink painting--in the actual image I've altered it from black to white, but I left it black here so you can actually see it. So then I turn the ink white, and voila! The final image. I've grown to enjoy digital processes--making images like this reminds me of intaglio printmaking, but this is much cheaper and faster.

Grasshopper & Ants

This is a series I did for work (it's for an elementary school reader-book for the Core Knowledge Foundation). The story is "The Grasshopper & the Ants," and I thought it would be fun to show the process I used. My first step is to carefully read the story and write out some of the details I need to be sure to include in order to be faithful to the text. Next, I looked for pictures of grasshoppers and ants, and began to sketch them roughly. I didn't really want these illustrations to be realistic, but I looked for the basic shapes to communicate "grasshopper" and "ant." Because the story is from Aesop, I decided it would be interesting to create images in the style of ancient Greek kraters, so i also found reference images of Greek art. Here are my final thumbnail sketches and notes: When I'm doing a sequential series of images for a story, it's important to me to establish a kind of rhythm where one image flows naturally into the next. I decided that alternating between round and rectangular formats would provide some variety and symmetry. Also, the first and last images (the round ones) would be close-up, while the middle two (the rectangular formats) would be more of a panoramic far-away view. I wanted the biggest contrast to come halfway through the story, where the grasshopper sees the blossoms and life of spring and summer give way to the bleak barrenness of autumn and winter, so I chose to switch suddenly to a black sky at that moment. Having planned this out, I began to prepare my materials. I used illustration boards. Here they are with shapes ready to paint: Next, I painted the shapes with a brown-orange tone to recreate the background color of the kraters. I used gouache--cadmium orange, phthalo blue, burnt sienna and lots of water. I wanted a very uneven, antique-looking texture, so I let the paint dry in puddles without worrying about a smooth surface. After the paint was dry, I sketched the drawings with pencil, based on my thumbnail sketches (from here on out, I'm going to follow one image to completion--the others followed a similar pattern). After the drawings were in place, I began inking them--I used a brush and India ink. I finished inking the drawing, using a mechanical pen for a few of the finer details, like some of the patterns on the door. I added the white tones with gesso. At this point, I also darkened my sienna-orange tone in a few areas, to model the shapes and add a bit of form (not too much, though, since these are supposed to be pretty flat). Finally, I scanned the drawing and added a cracked texture in Photoshop (I keep a folder of textures--many are photos I take of things near my home; some are from Google image searches). On some of the other images, I created additional small drawings of flowers, butterflies, leaves, etc. I scanned these to create patterns for backgrounds and borders in Photoshop. Hopefully this has been interesting. I enjoyed creating these illustrations and exploring a different style. Post Script: Here is another quick one I did for my own amusement. It's on the back of a manilla envelope, so I skipped the background-coloring step.