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Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: illustration, studio, artwork, roughs, tracing up, hot tips, Jungle Grumble, Add a tag
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Swap, artwork, pastels, planning, tracing up, Add a tag
It was great to get stuck into colour though. I started with the first spread of the book, not because I like to work through in the correct order, but because I had clear ideas about the colours things needed to be (pretty much pink, pink, pink), so it was a safe place to begin.
I wasn't sure what colour to do Sparky. Black would be tricky for showing details, white a little boring, brown a bit dingy and dull... I wanted him to stand out from the backgrounds too, so I chose white with tan bits, to make it more interesting and colourful.
Which spread to tackle next..?
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: illustration, artwork, pastels, roughs, tracing up, Baby Goes Baaaa, Add a tag
My feedback came through from Egmont on Tuesday, so I spent that day on the very boring task of enlarging my drawings on the computer, printing them out and tracing them up onto my pink pastel paper.
Now, it's a bit nerve-racking, deciding where to begin on a new book. I dithered for a while, then plumped for the lamb on skates and the polar bears I showed you last month:
My main reason: they are both principally white animals, so that was one colour I wouldn't have to make a decision on, and so would ease me in gently. Plus, I love the way white is made up of so many reflected colours and how pastels allows you to play with that, building it up gently:
I worked on both pieces side by side, because it's quicker to work on 2 similar illustrations at the same time - always handy when things are running behind schedule.
I used bold colours for their clothes, so they'll stand out against the white and also show up on whatever coloured background we drop in later. You see, none of the characters will have illustrated backgrounds: every page is going to have a different, flat colour dropped in later, in Photoshop.
The effect will be similar to my earlier baby book, When You're Not Looking! - simple and bold (ideal for this younger age group), although I think it will be slightly less zingy, without moving as far away as pastels.
This is how things stood on my desk come Thursday morni
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: illustration, roughs, Bears on the Stairs, tracing up, Add a tag
I've been knuckling down and trying to get it all finished, so I can get on with the fun bit of working with colour, but I can't concentrate for very long, and keep taking breaks to do other less dull and tiring things. Listening to the Radio 4 and sucking sweeties helps me keep my head down, but they make me thirsty, so I have to keep breaking for cups of tea...
This tracing business has just gone on and on! Luckily, unlike the gorgeous weekend (hurrah) it's been a wet and horrid day today, so it's not such a tragedy, being stuck in the dark.
But, I've just finished the last spread - phew. So, let raise those blinds and raise a cheer. Yahoo!
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Bears on the Stairs, tracing up, illustration, pastels, Add a tag
You don't realise how much standing wears you out, until the end of the day, when I realise I'm exhausted. Can't imagine having a job where you are on your feet all day every day!
This bit is very tedious: I first have to precisely measure and cut the paper for each individual illustration, marking a 5mm bleed all round, and a 10mm edging to trim off at the end. That stage alone takes a few hours (especially given all the cups of tea needed to keep sane).
Then I enlarge all the drawings on the computer (I'm working at 123%), print them out and stick them back together (I only have an A4 printer, so it takes four-and-a-bit A4 sheets per spread, as you can see above).
One by one, I then trace them onto my pink pastel paper at the light box. This also means that, if it's a bright day, I have to pull all the blinds and spend my day in the dark!
I'm encouraged to know that I'm not the only one combining sections of images manually and tracing the enlarged image on a lightbox. Thank you for sharing your process.
What a fascinating insight into the publishing process. I had no idea it was so fiddly and time consuming! I love your animal art it is so funny and cute.
Good to see your hard at work. I'm excited to see the end result. Stay active, best wishes,
Benjamin
It's great to see the publishing process:) What a great idea the pink paper,great post:)
Thank you. Glad to hear that the background information is still interesting.
:-)
That there's craft, that is!