Uniflop Process - Part 2

 Alright Everybody... here is part 2 of my illustration process for Startled By The Uniflop

Click here for Part 1

When we last left off we had an absolutely horrendous looking Layout Comp staring us down.
Well, now the suspense is over and the Uglification gives way to Beautification... hopefully... or that's the plan at least.

Step 5 - Draw Lines!
This is where I go through the lengthy process of refining the lines and creating a finished drawing. All the detail is there.. I look at reference and tweak anything that was off in my comp (admittedly that should have been done before..) It's a lengthy process but very soothing at the same time.

Step 6 - It's color time... delicious... delicious color time.

I use various overlay layers to lay down solid colors. At this point I'm not terribly concerned with value. You can see that in my thumbnail sketch the Troll was going to be a dark figure on a light background (yeah, that's right Will... I did listen). That is still the plan but I'm not worried about it at this point. I just want the general colors to be what I'm looking for. I went through a few varieties of troll skin color (blue, green, purple, red) before settling on his final complexion.

Step 7 - Shading...

ooooooo, I say to myself when this stage is finished. They seem to be coming alive! Here I add shadows and highlights to the... well, the everything. Things seem to start having depth which usually makes me giddy. I use multiply layers and screen or overlay or lighten... just whatever works for me.

Step 8 - Textures
I like texture. Subtle variations in value take a large flat surface and make it into something far more interesting. so here I added some texture to the troll's skin and hair, the Uniflop, and the trees. Some areas are more apparent than others. Oh, and I added some pinkish hues to the Trolls skin in areas like the nose, cheeks, feet, knuckles, and belly.

Step 9 - Mood my dear... mood.

In this step I used multiple layers of shadow and fog to create the value pattern I originally was shooting for. I also add atmosphere and try to push the depth of space. This is probably one of the more time consuming steps but the one that in many was is the funnest for me. It also makes me feel like Bob Ross when he plant a huge tree right in front of a mountain he just painstakingly painted. Some of the details get lost in shadow or faded out in a haze... but it's worth it. Oh... and I added a spider web in the far left tree. Sadly... it's looking a tad flat at this point... so onto the final step. 

 Step 10 - Finally the finale.
the last step involves me eating some candy like Pez or something and then tweaking the contrast, levels, and hues to get it just were I want it. Then I play Beep Bop Baby or some other made up game with the kids and come back to it. Make any more tweaks and put my John Hancock somewhere.

You made it!!!
I think that is the longest post I've ever done... hopefully it was enjoyable. And for a reward I'll tell you a joke (beware it is geeky):

Two droids walk into a bar
The bartender says "hey, we don'e serve your kind here"

Thanks for joining me... you can get back to pretending to work now.

Uniflop Process - Part1

Happy March 1st!
I've been reading Alice in Wonderland to my kids at night. That book is awesome and completely insane. Waaaaaaay crazier than the disney version. So any who, in honor of the March Hare I thought I'd post this piece I've been working on and show a little of the process I went through to create it.

I call it "Startled by the Uniflop"

The Uniflop is a very rare magical creature. With the body of a deranged, white jack rabbit and a unicorn's horn protruding from just above it's creepy visage it is truly a sight to behold.
Often the Uniflop seems to appear out of nowhere. It then spends the next few minutes (or however long it decides to stay around) hopping around just inside your personal bubble while being careful to never actually make physical contact.
Those who have encountered this creature are often overwhelmed with an uneasy feeling, not because of it's dangerous powers, or ferocious disposition, but because of it's striking awkwardness.

Anyway, now that I've educated you on this rare creature... here's how I did this illustration.

Step 1- Thumbnail. It all started with this:

a tiny drawing to establish the general layout and value... though I switched the value where the Uniflop is.

Step 2 - Larger Layout comp. Then I scaled things up a bit and worked out where things would be placed and bit more detail of the posing of characters. At this point I knew it was a troll that would be startled but the startling agent was going to be a kitten. I scratched that idea because it seemed so... well... unimaginative.

Step 3 - Now the flood of sketches. Ranging from really ugly and sloppy chicken scratches to more refined sketches. This is just to explore the character designs and poses. During this process I looked at images of jack rabbits and pictures of me posing like a little startled girl. (here are a few of those... sketches, not the pictures of me. Those were deleted and sent to the void.)

Some of them are really hideous so... yeah. But, it is all in the name of science! or progress.

Step 4 - When I get the design I like (the last one above) I take an awesomely cruddy photo and put it in photoshop. Referring to the original thumbnail and layout comp I create a larger composition including value and more background details.

yeah... I know it's hideous... but so is the scaffolding of a building. Anyway, that's what I have to remind myself at this point.

So........... part 2 next time!

I feel so exposed right now.

And a big Thanks to Adam Munoa for doing a artist spotlight of me on his blog. Hopefully I will be able to share some of his work here soon.

Part 2 is here

100th Post! the Alligator process

wooooooot! it's my 100th post! and to celebrate I am going to post the steps of the Gator Memoirs piece.

Step 1 - First I came up with some ridiculous idea, like two rosters playing space chess (ooooo, now I'll have to do that one later.) or in this case an alligator typing his memoirs. then I did a sketch using Faber Castell brush pens and a white pastel pencil on Bogus Recycled Sketch Paper (that is really what it is called) and took a cruddy picture of it. My main concern was value and composition at this point.

Step 2 - I took it into Photshop and refined the drawing (lines). Using my secret technique of tracing...

Step 3 - Using a few layers in photoshop, I put down blocks of color. I mostly used the value of the original sketch and just laid down solid colors under a Vivid Light layer (that process changes a lot depending on the project)

Step 4 - Next I added shadows with a multiply layer. Yep... pretty straight forward.

Step 5 - I like to think of this step as the atmosphere and mood stage. Using multiply layers, levels, saturation, and other digital hocus-pocus, I create the mood I'm going for.

Final Step - To finish it off I went in and added little details (things like cup stains on the table) and extra highlights. This is the "cherry-on-top" step.

Anyways... happy 100th to me! and to you if you are reading this. I enjoyed this little piece and hope you enjoyed seeing the process. I'm thinking i'll put up prints for sale. Anywho... my process tends to vary from project to project but a lot of the same steps and methods are used...

And with this I bid thee farewell.