Children's Publishing Blogs - Tutorial of the Week blog posts

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing 3D Illustrator Liz Lomax for an upcoming episode of the Escape from Illustration Island Podcast, and it was a real treat speaking with her.

While preparing for my conversation with Liz, I came across this insightful post where she breaks down her creative process for a recent project she completed for HOW magazine.

Her approach is so fun to see that I thought I’d highlight it for this week’s Tutorial of the Week. Check it out at Liz’s site to get an inside look at her technique of creating vivid, detailed 3-dimensional Illustrations.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL POST >>

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This week’s Tutorial of the Week is a very useful post about the color zones of the face by James Gurney on his informative and inspiring blog, Gurney Journey.

The concept of color zones is one of those fundamental ideas that can do a lot to help you take your portraits to the next level by adding realism and life to your subjects.

“The complexion of a light-skinned face is divided into three zones. The forehead is a whitish or golden color. From the forehead to the bottom of the nose is reddish. The zone from the nose to the chin tends toward a bluish, greenish, or grayish color.”

Click here to read the full post >>

Dinotopia creator James Gurney features tutorials and lessons for Illustrators on his blog on a regular basis, so be sure to check back often to see what’s new there.

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1 Comments on Tutorial of the Week – Color Zones of the Face, last added: 7/1/2010

Ever wanted to make your own zine?

Andrew Baron makes a case for exploring this unique, ‘happening’ medium in a recent post by Andrew Barton on Bangback, an attractive and insightul blog for print artists and illustrators.

“If you already write a blog but are interested in doing something different with your writing or your image-compiling abilities, consider making a cheaply producible, zine-style book anthology with visual art to compliment your writing.”

In addition, Andrew shares a simple, 5-step approach to making a zine of your very own.

Click here to see the full post at Bangback >>

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This week’s Tutorial of the Week is another inspiring “process post”.

Artist Bernd Wagenfeld was one of the lucky winners of last week’s Dripbook Giveaway here at Escape from Illustration Island, and one of the side effects of his name turning up in the drawing was my fortune in seeing his stunning Illustration work.

If you like process posts (aka “work-in-progress” posts), then you’re going to love Bernd’s breakdown of his approach to re-interpreting the shape of a car into a golf course map.

Personally, I love any chance I get to catch a glimpse of an artist’s creative methods, and this one in particular blows me away.

CLICK TO SEE THE FULL POST >>

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This week’s feature for EFII’s Tutorial of the Week series is for any Illustrators who are curious about breaking into the textile design market. On the blog, Textile Arts Resource Guide, textile artist Gwendolyn Magee offers a comprehensive collection of tutorials and resources on how to market your textile designs.

According to Gwendolyn:

“I was recently contacted by Andy (Andrea) Mars, a photograher searching for information re how to break into the fabric/textile design market. Not having a clue but being curious, I did a little research and was able to provide her with some leads. It then occurred to me that with all of the recent interest in being able to get your own fabric designs printed for personal use, others may also want this information..”

Anyone looking for information about the fabric design market will find something useful in Gwendolyn’s compilation of books, articles, videos, and other resources.

Click here to view the full post >>

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For this week’s Tutorial of the Week, EFII returns to another incredibly useful post by artist Dani Jones called Tips for Printing Digital Paintings at Home.

I don’t think you’ll ever find such a thorough, straight-forward tutorial on the subject of printing your work from your own home computer and printer. Dani leaves no stone unturned, discussing the many factors that come into play when printing your work, such as your monitor, paper and ink choices, and the optimal settings to get the best quality print.

Printing your Illustrations at home can be tricky, but sometimes it’s the best, or only, option you’ve got.

If you find yourself in this situation, I highly recommend checking out this tutorial before you start, because it can save you a lot of time, frustration, and supplies.

Thanks to Dani Jones for taking the time to shed some light on the process.

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8 Comments on Tips for Printing Digital Paintings at Home, last added: 5/14/2010

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mikeshoaf said, on 5/12/2010 7:15:00 AM

Definitely a good article. Thanks, Thomas, for pointing us to it… and thanks to Dani for putting it together!

One thing I’ve found that works good when printing directly from Photoshop to my Epson 1400, is to set it to “Photoshop manages colors” in the Ps print dialog. (It’s a popup menu over to the right, and probably says “Printer manages colors” by default.) Then when you get to the standard dialog that comes up next, set “Color Management” to “off” or “none”. This way, the print comes out much closer to what I see on-screen. This technique has worked on several Epson printers I’ve tried. (This is not a perfect solution, but it’s the easiest path to acceptable prints that I’ve found.)

And what Dani said about paper choice is so true. It makes all the difference in the world.

Terry Biddle said, on 5/12/2010 8:46:00 AM

Hey Thomas,

I work as a full-time print graphic designer (and part-time illustrator); I must say that some of this information might not be “completely accurate” on this particular topic.

As someone who has gone through the process of buying some semi-pro large format inkjet printers for the home, and purchasing photo quality paper on a semi-regular basis…CMYK is almost always the correct output for printers.

Not RGB.

What “Dead.Pixel” says in the comments section of the original post is largely correct.

I don’t mean to post anything negative, but I deal with sending CMYK files to printers and publishers on a daily basis and I think some of this info could possibly steer people in the wrong direction.

If you want, I’d be happy to write a full explanation of the types of printers, papers, CMYK vs. RGB and how to prep files for non-designers if you’d like in a blog post.

Again, my apologies…the anal-retentive designer in me I had to chime in.

isabela pinheiro said, on 5/12/2010 11:39:00 PM

Great article it gave me some ideas I had not thought of. I do digital artworks printed on canvass but will try the silk sreen printing on some of them it will be relly cool wil follow you on twitter my twitter username @pratteraway

Peter Diamond said, on 5/12/2010 11:55:00 PM

This is great timing Thomas, thanks a lot. I’m just now knee-deep in the process of choosing a printer. The one that keeps coming up again and again is the Epson R1900, so I will probably go with that (same one depicted in the tutorial). It’s nice to have some more testimonial evidence for the Epsons.

From everything I can tell, and the small amount of print experience I’ve had, it seems to me that printing is an art in itself, or at least a fine craft. There are a lot of subtleties, and I for one will not be taking on the task of mastering them. I think in the end it’s about taking in what you can handle from the sea of technical information, and then as Dani mentions you just go through trial and error to find what works for you.

Thanks again

When it needs to be perfect, there’s always the print shop.

Linda Hensley said, on 5/13/2010 5:52:00 AM

I’d like to weigh in on RGB vs CMYK. You have to use RGB for email, so I often print layouts in that format for my files. It’s just one less step. In my experience, customers often don’t see the color differences from RGB when it gets printed in CMYK. This has backfired on me exactly once, but it backfired in a big way because a bright, oddball blue just wasn’t possible by the printer in CMYK. Therefore, I’ve learned to do a test at my desk before sending to the printer and warning the client ahead of time if there’s going to be a color change.

If someone is printing things at home and never going to a commercial printer, I’d say go ahead and print things in RGB. The colors will be brighter. But if you’ve got commercial uses in mind, take the advice in the article.

Dani Jones said, on 5/13/2010 5:53:00 PM

Hey, thanks Thomas for linking to me yet again! You’re awesome. I’m happy to see you find use out of my ramblings.

To address the CMYK/RGB comment from Terry – yeah, you’re probably right. I am not the greatest expert at the technical side of printing. The blog post wasn’t meant to get super techy and is mostly just a down and dirty rough guide to getting prints at home that don’t look stupid. :) Also, when I wrote the article I was thinking more of the typical consumer inkjet printers, not the huge pro ones. And in that case, I think RGB is still the way to go. Am I wrong?

Julissa Mora said, on 5/14/2010 8:08:00 AM

Hi Thomas, Thanks for sharing the link! Deciding what paper and printer to use for digital printing can become very overwhelming. I’ve been saving for one myself, so any information I find about it helps. :)

Terry Biddle said, on 5/14/2010 8:51:00 AM

Hey Dani,

In response to your question…well, it depends. :)

There are a few factors: the first, whether you are duplicating images you created by hand (photography, or a painting), or images that originated on the computer (digitally painted/colored, vector art).

And the second, how many and what type of print cartridges your inkjet printer uses.

I see what you mean about photo-specific commercial printers (marketed to people that just want to print photos), but other commercial printers still need to print CMYK.

Some actually require individual cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (K) cartridges…so RGB is definitely not the right way to go here.

So largely, this depends on your ink cartridges and what type of work you’re trying to replicate. You can pick up CMYK printers from Best Buy (which I have before), and printing RGB would not be accurate.

For people that are looking to duplicate their hand created work with a standard off the shelf photo printer…you may be correct. I can’t speak to that because I’m an anal retentive designer that’s picky about his printer purchases. ;) Just check the cartridges! :)

This is one of those things where you really have to pay attention to what you have bought, to know what will work.

Love your work by the way, Dani!

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Ever wondered how to make your art licensing website more attractive to manufacturers?

If so, this week’s Tutorial of the Week highlights a post on how to do just that. Licensing artist Kate Harper offers some useful tips on designing a website that is “manufacturer-friendly”.

A licensing artist with years of experience in the industry, Kate shares a bullet-pointed quiz that every licensing artist should read to judge the potential effectiveness of their website, and explains why it’s so important.

“Some artists are so overly concerned about getting new manufacturers to go to their website, that they completely forget about them, once they get there. Manufacturers are busy people and when they go to a website, they want to see a lot of art fast, without running into navigation obstacles. Is your website “manufacturer-friendly?”"

Click here to read the full post and find out how to make your art licensing website more attractive to manufacturers.

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If you’re looking to sharpen your character design skills, you should definitely check out this incredibly useful Character Design from Life series by artist David Colman.

In a handful of over-the-shoulder video tutorials, David shares some tips on using real-life inspiration to create unique characters. What makes this series really shine, however, is that is offers a glimpse at how you can take your drawings to the next level by implementing simple and effective design elements.

Take some time to watch a few videos in the series if you’ve ever wanted to know how to make your character designs more dynamic and compelling.

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Here’s a really entertaining process post from Illustrator Grant Gilliland in which you get a front seat to his approach to custom-painting a pair of Vans shoes.

I was surprised by how much fun I had reading this post. Grant really lets his sense of humor shine through in his running commentary while showing photos of his unique work from start to finish.

It’s always enjoyable to watch an artist at work, especially on this type of hands-on project.

Read the article here.

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Artist BT Livermore recently published this unique process post about flocking a book cover for his current project, Bearfight, a collection of 77 artists, (including myself) depicting their take on the word “bearfight”.

What is flocking?

In BT’s words, “flocking is made up of powdered rayon fibers, which when adhered to any object with the proper adhesive, creates a fuzzy, felt-like texture.”

If you’ve ever wondered how to add more texture and dimension using this technique, check out the post here.

If you’re interested, you can see a color version of my Illustration for this book here.

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Whether you want to learn more about the art of character design or just love to watch artists develop a project from concept to completion, you should definitely check out this Character Development Tutorial Series by concept artist Mark Molnar.

Using a combination of images, video, and commentary, Mark walks you through his process of creating a character from scratch.

Anyone can draw a character, but this tutorial does a great job of showing you how to loosen up, explore ideas, and develop concepts into finished artwork.

So far, the series consists of 4 parts, covering the basic steps of character design:

Part 1 – Thumbnail Sketches

Part 2 – Rough Sketches

Part 3 – Color Rough

Part 4 – Detailing

Thanks to Mark Molnar for offering a peek into his personal approach to character design.

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Want to add texture to your Illustrations?

This week’s Tutorial of the Week features a great 7-step approach to creating and applying your own grainy texture to your work using Adobe Photoshop.

This very simple and straight-forward tutorial is brought to you by artist Dan Luvisi, and is featured on his DeviantArt profile here.

I highly recommend taking a quick look at this custom technique if you’ve ever wondered how to add more dimension and interest to your work by adding texture, without simply using the more bland, built-in effects provided by Photoshop.

Thanks to Dan Luvisi for sharing this incredibly useful tutorial.

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Have you ever wanted to screenprint one of your Illustrations?

If so, then you’ll definitely want to check out this week’s Tutorial of the Week, The Art of Screenprint by Joshua Roberton.

Presented by Computer Arts, this informative tutorial walks you through the process of separating the colors of your image and preparing it for screenprinting. Using this approach, you’ll be able to bypass outside printing services and do it all yourself.

Thanks to Joshua Roberton for sharing these great tips with the art community.

View and download the tutorial here.

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For this week’s Tutorial of the Week, I want to highlight artist Apricot Mantle’s step-by-step process of creating painterly drawings using Prismacolor colored pencils.

Apricot’s post, called How to Draw the Apricot Way, is an intresting combination of a tutorial and a Process page, and it’s a great example of an artist instilling her portfolio website with her own voice.

As a bonus, this tutorial is useful for artists who are curious about Prismacolor pencils, which can achieve astounding results when used in the way that Apricot outlines in her 9 Step instructions. You won’t learn everything there is to know about using Prismacolors in this post, but you will find some simple tips on creating Illustrations with this medium.

Do you use Prismacolors? How does this technique differ from your approach? Please share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

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“You never know what potential clients are out there, and what they are using to view your work.”

This quote, by Illustrator Dani Jones, is the reasoning behind her unique and valuable tutorial on How to Make Your Portfolio iPhone-Compatible.

The art of promoting your Illustration work is changing rapidly because of the internet and other technological advances, and the more tech-savvy artists out there are constantly looking for ways to make the most of their marketing efforts. That’s why Dani’s post is a relevant and useful addition to EFII’s Tutorial of the Week series.

Dani offers step-by-step instructions on how to replicate her approach to customizing her portfolio website for viewing on mobile devices, and I recommend taking a look if you’re interested in making it as easy as possible for Art Directors to browse your work “on-the-go”.

View the tutorial here.

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Want to design and cast your own toys?

In Episode 18 of the EFII Podcast, Gary Taxali talks about his experiences with turning some of his Illustrations into vinyl toys, which led to the start of his new toy company.

So, I thought I’d follow-up with this tutorial from Computer Arts called Cast a Designer Toy, which gives you step-by-step instructions for designing and producing cast-resin toys. This entry into the Tutorial of the Week series offers a hands-on approach for those more industrious artists who favor do-it-yourself projects.

You can download the pdf tutorial and support files here.

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