Post by choisez on Feb 20, 2009 0:17:37 GMT -5
Hello there, a few people have asked me to elaborate on my painting techniques and I noticed that the FAQ portion of the gallery site is no longer accurate, so here is a revised description.
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Step 1 - Composition
Using just a regular 2h pencil (reduces smearing) I rough in a basic composition using simple shapes and movements, thinking more about the dynamics and emotion I'm trying to express rather than on the final, finished image. This is based on script, personal visual preferences and overall mood, trying to do different things with each page, but not straying too far from the basic style of both story and character.
Step 2 - Refining the Idea
Sometimes your first idea is not always the best idea, so try other things and don't be afraid to toss something just because you really nailed that forearm, drawing a page around one bit you liked will usually make for a bad piece.
Step 3 - Polish and Prep
Now I've got a basic composition that I'm ready to tighten up and prepare to paint. This means making any straight lines actually straight, circles real circles, and the little bits that I've only roughed in until this point clearer. Now, this is the point where I will go two different ways depending on whether or not I am working with an inker/colorist or if I'm finishing the piece myself. If I'm working with others, I try to make the pencils as clean and precise as possible, this is just a personal choice, I don't want to kick myself later because something didn't turn out the way I had planned, the inker can't read your mind and unless you've worked together for a long time, all those little things that made perfect sense to you will just look like clutter to the inker.
If I'm going to finish the piece myself, this is where I ease up on the pencils, leaving a lot of the finished rendering to the painting stage, no sense drawing the same thing twice. I still try to keep the drawing very clean however. If I am going to have some lights or special effects on the page, I will sometimes draw these in the actual color that they will be painted in later, eliminating the telltale black lines. If I am going to have hot whites or highlights I try to keep these as clean and "white" as possible.
I use Rapidiograhps, Copic markers and brushes for the ink rendering. I prefer the white synthetic brushes (I like them because they are cheaper and easy to find and maintain). When I have my greyscale drawing finished it's time to paint.
Step 4 - Painting
I vary this a lot from page to page, sometimes I'll airbrush the whole page and sometimes I'll paint with brush only, it depends on the content and size. For example, a double page splash with a lot of backround will go much faster using the airbrush, while painting a peachy face in the middle of a blue sky is easier to just paint by hand. If I am airbrushing, now the boring job of masking arrives, I'll use tracing paper for large masks and masking fluid for small bits. I don't like frisket because it's too high tack and I always lose some drawing to the frisket. I just apply a few pieces of low tack artist's tape to the edges of my mask. I don't worry about it being completely sealed unless there will be a strong highlight on the inside or outside of the mask. Don't leave the masking fluid on too long as it may stain the paper. One other note, I have in the past tried spraying fixative to the grayscale drawing before I paint to help with smears and the pencil bleeding but I don't like the surface of the paper after spraying, but this is just personal choice. Now I begin to spray, I'm currently using a Paasche VL and V airbrush using liquid acrylics. Airbrushing can be tiresome with having to constantly be cleaning the airbrush and difficult finding the space to work, but I've found it can cut the time to finish a page dramatically and can give you effects impossible to achieve by hand.
Now that I have my basic colors sprayed or brushed on, I'll start the refining process, I'll brush on acrylic paint or use colored pencil crayons. Lastly, I will use acrylic white in varying degress of opacity to create hotspots and fades, I also use gesso, but I find it takes more applications to get a "hot" clean white.
When I've done all my finishing touches I will spray the page with a matte fixative, I prefer the matte because it doesn't reflect light.
Materials
Here's a list of the actual stuff I am using, this is not a plug or an endorsement (in the past I have had the experience of wondering how something was done, and only until I knew what material was used, did I figure it out).
Paper: Hot press illustration board, many of the illustration boards can be stripped, meaning you can take the top of the board right off.
Pencils: 2h all the way to 4b depending on what I'm drawing. I do like to use mechanical pencils because you get the consistent weight and balance of the mechanical pencil rather than a shrinking pencil.
As for erasers, I like the Staedtler white plastic. I also like to use Sanford Eraserstiks (it's a typing eraser I believe) you can sharpen them to somewhat of a point and they will even remove some ink lines.
Paint: FW acylics inks and Pebeo transparent watercolors. I use either Golden or Liquitex liquid acrylics for airbrushing. Paasche V and VL airbrushes off a compressor with a moisture trap, the compressed spray you can buy is cheaper but the fumes are really harsh. For the highlights I like FW acrylic white or gesso or just titanium white acrylic paint.
Pencil crayons: I'll use either Prismacolors or Faber-Castell Polychomos.
A Couple of Side Notes
Reference: By all means, if you need it, use it. I'm currently working on a science fiction project where reference is not available except for planets, people and animals. But if I were doing a noirish story based in New York, I would get as much reference as I could. Don't use it as a crutch, but don't discount it's ability to give your drawing an impact and realism that's very difficult to achieve without reference.
Sketching and practice: I've found that unless I draw almost every day I get very rusty and it takes a long time to limber up again. Even if it is just meaningless scratching on a page.
--
I hope I have answered most of the questions I have been asked, if not, please let me know. Also I am not a typist so any spelling mistakes and typos must be overlooked in the spirit of artistic freedom.
--
Step 1 - Composition
Using just a regular 2h pencil (reduces smearing) I rough in a basic composition using simple shapes and movements, thinking more about the dynamics and emotion I'm trying to express rather than on the final, finished image. This is based on script, personal visual preferences and overall mood, trying to do different things with each page, but not straying too far from the basic style of both story and character.
Step 2 - Refining the Idea
Sometimes your first idea is not always the best idea, so try other things and don't be afraid to toss something just because you really nailed that forearm, drawing a page around one bit you liked will usually make for a bad piece.
Step 3 - Polish and Prep
Now I've got a basic composition that I'm ready to tighten up and prepare to paint. This means making any straight lines actually straight, circles real circles, and the little bits that I've only roughed in until this point clearer. Now, this is the point where I will go two different ways depending on whether or not I am working with an inker/colorist or if I'm finishing the piece myself. If I'm working with others, I try to make the pencils as clean and precise as possible, this is just a personal choice, I don't want to kick myself later because something didn't turn out the way I had planned, the inker can't read your mind and unless you've worked together for a long time, all those little things that made perfect sense to you will just look like clutter to the inker.
If I'm going to finish the piece myself, this is where I ease up on the pencils, leaving a lot of the finished rendering to the painting stage, no sense drawing the same thing twice. I still try to keep the drawing very clean however. If I am going to have some lights or special effects on the page, I will sometimes draw these in the actual color that they will be painted in later, eliminating the telltale black lines. If I am going to have hot whites or highlights I try to keep these as clean and "white" as possible.
I use Rapidiograhps, Copic markers and brushes for the ink rendering. I prefer the white synthetic brushes (I like them because they are cheaper and easy to find and maintain). When I have my greyscale drawing finished it's time to paint.
Step 4 - Painting
I vary this a lot from page to page, sometimes I'll airbrush the whole page and sometimes I'll paint with brush only, it depends on the content and size. For example, a double page splash with a lot of backround will go much faster using the airbrush, while painting a peachy face in the middle of a blue sky is easier to just paint by hand. If I am airbrushing, now the boring job of masking arrives, I'll use tracing paper for large masks and masking fluid for small bits. I don't like frisket because it's too high tack and I always lose some drawing to the frisket. I just apply a few pieces of low tack artist's tape to the edges of my mask. I don't worry about it being completely sealed unless there will be a strong highlight on the inside or outside of the mask. Don't leave the masking fluid on too long as it may stain the paper. One other note, I have in the past tried spraying fixative to the grayscale drawing before I paint to help with smears and the pencil bleeding but I don't like the surface of the paper after spraying, but this is just personal choice. Now I begin to spray, I'm currently using a Paasche VL and V airbrush using liquid acrylics. Airbrushing can be tiresome with having to constantly be cleaning the airbrush and difficult finding the space to work, but I've found it can cut the time to finish a page dramatically and can give you effects impossible to achieve by hand.
Now that I have my basic colors sprayed or brushed on, I'll start the refining process, I'll brush on acrylic paint or use colored pencil crayons. Lastly, I will use acrylic white in varying degress of opacity to create hotspots and fades, I also use gesso, but I find it takes more applications to get a "hot" clean white.
When I've done all my finishing touches I will spray the page with a matte fixative, I prefer the matte because it doesn't reflect light.
Materials
Here's a list of the actual stuff I am using, this is not a plug or an endorsement (in the past I have had the experience of wondering how something was done, and only until I knew what material was used, did I figure it out).
Paper: Hot press illustration board, many of the illustration boards can be stripped, meaning you can take the top of the board right off.
Pencils: 2h all the way to 4b depending on what I'm drawing. I do like to use mechanical pencils because you get the consistent weight and balance of the mechanical pencil rather than a shrinking pencil.
As for erasers, I like the Staedtler white plastic. I also like to use Sanford Eraserstiks (it's a typing eraser I believe) you can sharpen them to somewhat of a point and they will even remove some ink lines.
Paint: FW acylics inks and Pebeo transparent watercolors. I use either Golden or Liquitex liquid acrylics for airbrushing. Paasche V and VL airbrushes off a compressor with a moisture trap, the compressed spray you can buy is cheaper but the fumes are really harsh. For the highlights I like FW acrylic white or gesso or just titanium white acrylic paint.
Pencil crayons: I'll use either Prismacolors or Faber-Castell Polychomos.
A Couple of Side Notes
Reference: By all means, if you need it, use it. I'm currently working on a science fiction project where reference is not available except for planets, people and animals. But if I were doing a noirish story based in New York, I would get as much reference as I could. Don't use it as a crutch, but don't discount it's ability to give your drawing an impact and realism that's very difficult to achieve without reference.
Sketching and practice: I've found that unless I draw almost every day I get very rusty and it takes a long time to limber up again. Even if it is just meaningless scratching on a page.
--
I hope I have answered most of the questions I have been asked, if not, please let me know. Also I am not a typist so any spelling mistakes and typos must be overlooked in the spirit of artistic freedom.