Self-Portrait: Step 5 "Color"

Like I said before, the greyscale doesn't take too long. I wish the same could be said about color. Fortunately, in this case, I'm leaving the black lines to define the image, so I don't have to paint as tightly as I would if I used oils or acrylics. I've put in several hours of computer time and I still have a ways to go, particularly in getting the proper levels of ruddiness in my face. I pulled up the photo to compare images and I can see how beige I've been painting. If I make some dramatic leaps forward, I'll add more images; if not, I can turn this in for the poster and feel pretty good about it.

Self-Portrait: Step 4 "Value Study"

I don't always do this, even though I should. A grayscale image of a piece can help define things that the ink lines would make too obvious. Also, for something like the background, I'd have to do a lot of texturing if I left it as an ink drawing. Here, I can just fill it with a gray and see if that pushes the background back and allows the important element to come forward. It doesn't take very long in Photoshop, so it's worth doing.

Self-Portrait: Step 3 "Inks"

After a late night and a lot of cross-hatching, I'm at the (mostly) finished ink stage. I used my photo reference even more here than I did for the pencils. The pens are Pigma Microns, size 01 and 03. Usually, I'd add a thick outline around the contours with an 08, but I didn't this time. It makes it a little less of a cartoon.
There are a few things I will go back into before I start coloring. I need to add wings to the Dragon, add more shading on his jacket, and do a little more to my arms. Also, my brother wants me to have something drawn in front of me. Maybe that's where the bear character comes in.

Self-Portrait: Step 2 "Pencils"

The next part is really gathering reference for the illustration and I'll add the photograph to this posting later. Right now, we're looking at the finished pencil stage. I use a cheapo mechanical pencil most of the time and I drew this on Crescent watercolor board. The size is 9" X 12". I still haven't decided whether to paint with watercolors or go digital, but I've got time to think about it. Notice how I've enlarged my head compared to the thumbnail. Because of that, I lost the room for more dragons and I didn't want to cover up more of my face with a bear, so it's now a two-shot.

Self-Portrait: Step 1 "Thumbnails"

I'm actually re-doing this post. I thought that if I wanted to show what my process is for an entire project, I may as well start with the thumbnail drawing. The assignment is a self-portrait that would appear on the Ringling College Senior Illustration Show poster. My idea is that I would have mixed up versions of the characters I've been working on lately, dragons, knights, bears, and pirates.

The Scarlet(?) Speedster

I did this one last year as a portrait assignment with Adobe Illustrator, but the colors weren't like this. I have to remember that I can't upload CMYK image on this thing. RGB only. Still, it looks pretty cool.
Of course, the actor portrayed is John Wesley Shipp from the late '80's TV series, "The Flash." It was one of my favorites.
I just noticed that I misspelled John's name on the piece. I'll have to take care of that before sending it out in my portfolio. Darn.
Update: Here's the correct color and name spelling. The Flash is copyright DC Comics.

Toasty!

I wouldn't say that this is a finished illustration, but I thought the toasty dragon was too cute not to share.

Look! Up in the sky!

This strange little guy is Snorkey. I was hired to create this image for the rear stabilizer of a private, home-made plane. My client provided a jpeg of the manic jester he liked and I made my client into the jester's scepter. The piece is entirely Adobe Illustrator.

First image to share!

Finally, after these last couple of weeks, I have something to post. I've been working on a children's book for a class project and I thought I would share both the final image of one page as well as the uncolored inks. Notice the change in the Dragon character. My brother pointed out that the original expression would be when the dragon notices the cow eating his house, but the cow has already started running away. So, I redrew the dragon to be smug and self-satisfied and replaced him with Photoshop. A little color later, you'd never know the change.

Friendly greetings

As I set out on this pioneering foray into the blog, I wish to assure any visitor that I will get the hang of this eventually. Before long, I intend to entertain you with my character designs and children's book pages. Until then, please be patient. I'll talk to you soon.