Lessons from the last contest (add your own!)
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@Aleksey That's a good point and I forgot to mention it. Sometime after the thumbnails but before the final drawing, I'll do character studies using reference. In addition, I'm figuring out that I definitely need a rough sketch stage, in which I work out all the problems that result when you try to take what looks like a perfectly good thumbnail and work out the details, especially of anatomy and perspective, because they may change the composition. The character studies go with this stage.
@demotlj So this slanting thing is universal? I thought it was just me. I wonder why it happens?
@uzma I really like your list. All the steps are important, but I'm especially trying to work on the thumbnails and the finishing early. So much happens in that last few days and often you do need a day or two of rest to see straight. Otherwise there's a lot of danger of overworking the piece and ruining it, or at the very least wasted time working on details that don't help the whole.
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@demotlj that's really interesting, I would never have thought of doing that!!
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@LauraA Thanks - I'll try it next time, I'm interested to see what happens.
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I did a lot of thumbnails last month and started early which was good. I also found I went through that stage of feeling that it was very ugly. I get that feeling a lot and I wonder how much other people do? Something gets a bit lost between thumbnail and larger sketch, particularly with the characters. They're really ugly for a while but I keep working and ignore the uncertain voice in my head and eventually I can improve it.
Once I had my larger sketch I didn't really do a value study though. I need to do that. I think it was in this thread I read about having a layer, filled with white and turned to saturation mode? I tried that yesterday with my little mouse and that's helpful for sure! Tho I suppose that's an along the way value check and not a value study beforehand. Also. No color studies. So I have to get better at those and maybe even",steal" a color scheme from another illustration.
I also have trouble with too many layers. I get confused and maybe the color value studies will help!
I also think I threw in a bunch of falling snow at the last minute and blurred it too much. I think I overdid that but maybe some things come down to experience. And maybe some last minute decisions are good and some aren't
Great thread