How We Actually Make The Art
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@kylebeaudette dang these are getting more and more amazing.
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Loved hearing about your different/similar workflows, especially with colouring. I struggle with colour constantly, and up til the last 12 months employed mostly a 'comic book colouring' technique, but I'm trying new stuff depending on what I want to achieve.
Really appreciate the tips and tricks you share, I'll have to try using generic swatches then desaturating and colour balancing, that sounds like a cool thing to try. Top stuff. -
I am coming to realise how super important the thumbnail part is after doing exactly what was talked about in the podcast, I mean working a piece until it's finished and then having my husband say, that thing looks weird. I just get so carried away once I start a piece. The problem I have with thumbnails is when I do take the time and do 50, like Lee suggests, I have trouble choosing one out of the 50, sometimes I think one is pretty good and then I can only really see what's wrong with it once it's bigger. I suppose enlarging the original thumbnail could be a good way to remedy this...thanks for another great podcast
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@demotlj a light box, like a projector? I’ve thought about trying to track one of those down honestly! Maybe I should look at Facebook marketplace. Someone’s got to have one lying around.
I’m terrible with technology. But my husband is super techy. If you know the name of the program your friend uses, I can see if my husband could help me try that. I can’t imagine how nice it would be to work off of an actual thumbnail I like.
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@Pamela-Fraley The name of the app is PosteRazor (I have a Mac) which is actually for printing posters but you can change the size of the desired final picture to whatever dimensions you want.
The lightbox I have is a Huion A2 Large Tracing Light Box. You can absolutely make your own -- my Dad made one that I used for years -- but I finally splurged and got a commercial one which (sorry Dad) works much better. If you do want to try making one, though, just google DIY light box for tracing and you'll find examples online.
Laurie DeMott
instagram.com/demotlj -
@demotlj Thank you!!! That is so helpful.
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Got inspired by the guys talking about their methods, so I'm trying something slightly different on my latest WIP. Jake was talking about colouring with the generic Photoshop swatches and then desaturating and adjusting colour balance, so I'm trying that with this one. It's a piece for a chapter book by author Jason Matheson for 9-12 yr old boys mainly, and I can only describe it as an insane dystopic insect fantasy with a dab of Mad Max thrown in. There's a lot left to go on this pic; lighting, tonal values, background, textures, but thought I'd share my progress if that's okay? (If I'm not supposed to post this here I'll delete it with apologies.)
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@Rachel-Horne, I would say, don't try to pick one favorite out of 50. Pick 5 or 10 favorites. Compare & contrast them and see if they have things in common, or what you like about the different ones, etc.
In a design class I took, we would go through different steps:
Thumbnails or "thumbs": (around 1 or 2 inches, but Lee & Jake say they do them around 3 or 4 inches), scribbling as many ideas and versions of those ideas as possible (20 to 100) These are like stick figures, or Pictionary. Lee calls it a "thinking" stage, rather than a "drawing" stage. He also says that it's an ugly stage. It's for ideas, not something that looks good. I love what Will said: "Designing is different than drawing."
Rough Draft or "roughs": narrow them down to the top 5 or 10 and redraw them larger (like 3" to 5", half size, or even full size) & with more detail (Make sure to measure them out before drawing, to make sure it's accurate for the final size, or proportional to the final size.)
Comps (short for Comprehensive layout): pick the best rough (or up to 3), and draw it full size
Color comp: full size with color (we didn't have to do this for that class--I think it was all--or mostly B&W) You could also do this stage (or begin this stage) with your rough drafts.
Final: finished design
Of course, you can modify these steps (and the number of drawings for each stage) to what works for you (and your client, if applicable).
Enlarging the thumbnail, and adding more detail also works. I've used that method when working in Procreate on my iPad.
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@Pamela-Fraley, I've also seen people use projectors (either an old-school overhead projector, or a modern projector used with a computer).
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@EliaMurrayArt, I usually don't see things in my mind. Rarely, I can almost see things—never clearly, though. Sometimes a little more, and other times—so faint it's almost not seeing anything at all. But usually nothing.
If you ask me to close my eyes and imagine a beach or something, all I see is black. Sometimes I can remember the shapes of things without seeing an actual image—kind of like thinking about what it looks like, but not seeing it, and not using words either, but even that is difficult for me. I've tried to imagine something from a book, such as a character, but it doesn't work. Strangely, I've still had times when I watched a movie after reading the book it's based on and thought, "that's not how I imagined it".
It makes me kind of sad that I can't see things in my mind. It's amazing to me that someone (it sounds like most people!?) can picture an actual image—some as clearly as seeing a picture or photograph. That would be fun.
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@Miriam I know exactly how you feel. I was fairly obsessed and devastate for a while when my husband explained to me his memories were like watching a projected movie when he closed his eyes.
At least we know it has no affect on our imagination or creativity!
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@Miriam Thanks so much for taking time to give this feedback. I've taken the advice and picked four from my latest drawings and there are two that I decided to do colour compositions of. I'll keep you posted.
