WIP Wednesday
Okay, so I am not good at sharing WIPs (Works in Progress) because, well, they're not done yet. And they look not done yet, and to my mind that means 'like crap.' A mean, other artists have these really pretty process photos, with stellar sketches, that somehow manage to look awesome even when they're a complete mess. Mine just look like a complete mess.
But, I've been thinking, maybe those other artists think that, too. And, you know, even if they don't who the hell cares, right? I mean, even if my process does mean my WIPs look like crap, it's the end result that really matters. How I get there is important only because it illustrates (*G*) my thought process, it shows how I begin and how I mean to go on, and that can be interesting.
Long story short (I know, too late), I'm going to post and talk about some of my WIPs, because why not. *nods*
This is an illustration I'm doing for my portfolio. It's for Charles Perrault's version of Little Red Riding Hood, which begins with a quick mention of Red's village and her and her mother and this is going to be her looking back at her village just before she ventures into the woods. Its' obviously very rough, my first 'sketch' in fact. I work better with shape than I do with line, which is one of the reasons for my daily line art. It helps me understand line better. So, for this I started by filling in some basic shapes and shading. Notice that the colors in the foreground are darker than than those which are meant to be in the middle or background, which is a common way artists create distance and depth in a painting. This would be a two page layout, with the words in the white sections and the illustration along the bottom of the two pages. Connecting the pages this way creates a sense of movement between them.
This is one of the designs that I call 'symmetricals.' I've been drawing and painting these for years and years, since I was a kid. They've evolved a lot since those days (they were more geometrical in the beginning) and I'm thinking of eventually pulling them all together into a coloring book. While this one actually looks pretty good at this size, at larger sizes the lines are uneven and very clearly hand-drawn. So, I'm slowly, but surely working on a process to even them out. I have dozens of them scanned into the computer, so it's going to take some time to finish them all. This is actually one of the simpler designs because it fills an entire page, where as others are bound into a more definite outer shape.
This last one is a bit of fanart. Wonder Woman, of course, but it's not meant to be line art, this is just the first stage for a full color illustration which may--or may not--be lined. I'm having trouble with it because she looks so static. Some of that will be helped when I add in lighting (especially to her eyes and hair), and I may have to crop out some of the image because when you cut off an image at or near the joints (as with her arms and waist) it can leave the image looking weird and static. I'll have to work on it first, though, to figure out what to do to it. We'll see how it goes.
So, that's it, the tour of some of my WIPS. I have a bunch of them at all times because I like to bounce around on projects. It's a bit like when you're writing, and your brain is stuck, so you go do some dishes or play a round (or a hundred) of Solitaire. Bouncing around keeps me working while my subconscious processes the issues and then when I come back to a given piece, I know where to go with it.
What do you do when you need to let your brain work in peace?
But, I've been thinking, maybe those other artists think that, too. And, you know, even if they don't who the hell cares, right? I mean, even if my process does mean my WIPs look like crap, it's the end result that really matters. How I get there is important only because it illustrates (*G*) my thought process, it shows how I begin and how I mean to go on, and that can be interesting.
Long story short (I know, too late), I'm going to post and talk about some of my WIPs, because why not. *nods*
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| Rough sketch for Perrault's version of Little Red Riding Hood. |
This is an illustration I'm doing for my portfolio. It's for Charles Perrault's version of Little Red Riding Hood, which begins with a quick mention of Red's village and her and her mother and this is going to be her looking back at her village just before she ventures into the woods. Its' obviously very rough, my first 'sketch' in fact. I work better with shape than I do with line, which is one of the reasons for my daily line art. It helps me understand line better. So, for this I started by filling in some basic shapes and shading. Notice that the colors in the foreground are darker than than those which are meant to be in the middle or background, which is a common way artists create distance and depth in a painting. This would be a two page layout, with the words in the white sections and the illustration along the bottom of the two pages. Connecting the pages this way creates a sense of movement between them.
 |
| Rough of my symmetrical 'Unfolding.' |
This is one of the designs that I call 'symmetricals.' I've been drawing and painting these for years and years, since I was a kid. They've evolved a lot since those days (they were more geometrical in the beginning) and I'm thinking of eventually pulling them all together into a coloring book. While this one actually looks pretty good at this size, at larger sizes the lines are uneven and very clearly hand-drawn. So, I'm slowly, but surely working on a process to even them out. I have dozens of them scanned into the computer, so it's going to take some time to finish them all. This is actually one of the simpler designs because it fills an entire page, where as others are bound into a more definite outer shape.
 |
| Wonder Woman fanart, beginning line art. |
This last one is a bit of fanart. Wonder Woman, of course, but it's not meant to be line art, this is just the first stage for a full color illustration which may--or may not--be lined. I'm having trouble with it because she looks so static. Some of that will be helped when I add in lighting (especially to her eyes and hair), and I may have to crop out some of the image because when you cut off an image at or near the joints (as with her arms and waist) it can leave the image looking weird and static. I'll have to work on it first, though, to figure out what to do to it. We'll see how it goes.
So, that's it, the tour of some of my WIPS. I have a bunch of them at all times because I like to bounce around on projects. It's a bit like when you're writing, and your brain is stuck, so you go do some dishes or play a round (or a hundred) of Solitaire. Bouncing around keeps me working while my subconscious processes the issues and then when I come back to a given piece, I know where to go with it.
What do you do when you need to let your brain work in peace?
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