Tales from an Illustrator: Magical Tools of the Trade

Hello hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Things are pretty hectic for me, lots of small projects to finish and hopefully I can share a bunch of new stuff & updates with you all soon! In the mean time I thought I'd share a little story about the tools one can use for an illustration. Let's start!

‘Twas the night before Chris…

Sorry. Wrong beginning!

Once upon a time there was a piece of paper. This piece of paper wanted to express itself with an image, a thought, so it soared down through the Clouds of Memories and held on to a memory. But having this memory wasn't enough. It started to float through the Pencil Woods and got marked with soft lines.

No. This wasn’t enough either. The little paper wanted more and floated further. On its journey it passed the Inky Meadows and the image got marked even more. The memory became more clear. However, it still wasn't enough. The paper wanted color. It wanted depth. So it kept on floating and the wind brought it to the River of Jars. The River was surrounded by little Brush Bushes with little Flower Pans in lots of different colors. The Flower Pans, sparkled and glistened in the sun.

The paper floated towards the bushes when there was a soft movement within the bushes and eyes opened. It turned out that the little brushes were tiny elegant creatures, with soft hair and sparkling golden eyes. Some went to the jars in the river, while others went to the flowers. Splashes of water on the paper, while drops of colors flowed through it. Brush strokes here, brush strokes there. Tiny details here, tiny details there. What once were just a few lines was given life and told a story.

It was here to stay. Forever captured on a piece of paper.

I was a bit in a storytelling mood. Haha. But you can pick out a few of the tools that I use from that little story. I won't add the entire column here as I want to share something else. So if you like to read it all please click the Magic Button. If you want to comment, but don't have an account there you can share your thoughts here as well ^_^.

What I wanted to share with you is the following. Mr. Jim Brandano, is a professional photograhper from the States. His pictures are beautiful. So when you have the chance do browse around his blog! He asked me if I was up for a little collaboration. Of course I was! He sent me a few pictures and I could choose one as an inspiration to create an illustration. I love sunsets so I picked the following:

I just love the deep red orange in this one. Okay, this is what I created out of it! Oh. Do enlarge the picture please.

What do you think? It has darker mysterious vibe I think. But when I saw his picture, I immediately imagined elegant flying creatures in the sky. So I stuck with that image and I call this piece...Creatures in the Sky. Original huh? hehe. Hope you like it!

Enjoy your weekend and till next time.

Ciao!