Hello Everyone, I thought I'd maintain my blog here a bit by updating a piece that I tried to document every step of my process. To begin, there aren't any special secrets and a personal process is just going through trial and error, seeing what works and what simply does not. Although, this is only my way and thoughts on process. There's no right way of doing a piece, and there are many avenues that can be explored. This is my way of going about finishing a piece, where thumbnailing is essential to keeping the mind fresh and open to laying down abstract shapes. It also keeps you loose and prevents images from being tied down too early.
Also while doing my ideation, I thought of what I wanted the characters to look like....Well, these characters have been around for quite some time, and it was about time that they be drawn again since they are going to be starring in my upcoming senior thesis.
After nailing down a solid sketch, value studies are explored along with color. Revisions to shape and placement also occur within these stages. I try not to stray from my original concept of the image, but if improvements to silhouettes prove to strengthen a part of the composition that isn't working, I stick with them. So keeping an open mind to possibilites to happy accidents and aides in the process of picture making is essential. This train of thought has revealed that even the most skilled professionals remain as masters of their craft because they remain in the constant train of thought of learning. Once the feeling that a plateau has been reached in a career and know all there is to know--then you are finished. All channels of knowledge have been cut off and the learning curve utterly stops.
After many revisions to the tight sketch, then the piece is finally executed to a finish. This is still a work in progress, and for now has been put on hold due to my time here at Disney. Alas, there will be many more illustrations done of these two, along with my developing story line. There are many epic ideas I have in store for my thesis, the challenge now is to make it all possible.
Until next time!!
-h
