Welcome to another WIP! Have something to eat & drink and I hope you enjoy this little sneak peek in my brain!
Step 1: Brainstorming & sketching.
Let me just say, this illustration started out on a much smaller scale. I was already toying with the idea to draw fun & colorful birds for my next header. So first sketches I did; were just about the birds. I kept toying with how I wanted to draw them and how I would place them.
Let me just say, this illustration started out on a much smaller scale. I was already toying with the idea to draw fun & colorful birds for my next header. So first sketches I did; were just about the birds. I kept toying with how I wanted to draw them and how I would place them.
Okay, in the end the illustration is still in pieces. Reason for this is that at first I was a bit too lazy to redraw it on a larger sheet of paper. Then I realized that it would be a huge pain the #$%^&% to get a good scan of it as my scanner is a piece of #$%^& (sorry for the swearing). Lastly, I added an extra branch as well.
Step 2: Final Sketch & Inking
I suppose, this stage speaks for itself. I just retrace the lines with black fine pens, waterproof ink of course.
I suppose, this stage speaks for itself. I just retrace the lines with black fine pens, waterproof ink of course.
Step 3: Paint, paint & paint!
Painting time! Okay, I don’t have like a special moment where I choose my colors or brainstorm about it. All I knew at this point, that it has to have a rain forest type of feel, with colorful birds. So I started with the background and this had to be…green of course. I always start with a light wash for everything and then I build it up till I have what I want. Painting with watercolors, is just adding layers to create depth. I won’t ramble a lot, but let the pictures do most the talking.
Painting time! Okay, I don’t have like a special moment where I choose my colors or brainstorm about it. All I knew at this point, that it has to have a rain forest type of feel, with colorful birds. So I started with the background and this had to be…green of course. I always start with a light wash for everything and then I build it up till I have what I want. Painting with watercolors, is just adding layers to create depth. I won’t ramble a lot, but let the pictures do most the talking.
After adding the first layer, I went over the ink lines again. I do this to emphasize certain parts of the drawing, like the branches. For some reason, I can determine better what I have to ink again after I painted it a bit.
I thought it would be cool to see the differences between the brances. The branch below only has one wash, the branch above I think 1 wash more, maybe 2. But the colour deepens a lot with a second wash. I just keep on adding washes of brown. Slightly make it a bit darker and waiting for each layer to dry. When the branches are finished, I worked on the background again. When the tree branches and the background are completely dry, I continue with the characters. I have to wait till it’s completely dry now, otherwise the background colour will flow into the birds or the other way around. So for the birds, I just go through the same process and try to add almost the same colours in them.
We are almost done!! Final steps are scanning and a bit of editing in Photoshop and then it looks like this:
While layers were drying I worked on other illustrations. I gotta use my time wisely haha. And now…we are done! The drawing in real life looks much better. Too bad the camera doesn't pick this up! Hope you liked it and feel free to leave question, suggestions, ideas or tips.
As always lovely readers, thanks for reading!
Xx
Other Work in Progress posts:
