WEEKLY UPDATE: Learning how to illustrate
Well, school has started back up again, but I’m determined to fit some children’s picture-book-making into my schedule. I’ve gotten a little bit better at making paper-cut backgrounds. I started by planning out each page of the children’s book individually. I plotted which illustrations and text would go on which page, then drew sketches for each illustration on bigger sheets of paper (not pictured).
Shortly after this, I ended up going to a local café, where I drank an absolutely delicious chai latte and painted messy gouache backgrounds on sheets of watercolour paper. I walked back home in the freezing winter rain (thanks Nova Scotia) and cut the paper into mountains and trees for a background.
Annnd this is the background I made:
Once the background was glued together, I took a picture of it with my Canon camera and uploaded it to my computer, where I fiddled around with the lighting, contrast, and colours in Adobe Lightroom. When I was happy with it, I uploaded it to Procreate and added the details. This was the end result…
There’s still more work to be done though! I think it can definitely still be better, but I believe I’ve improved from my last attempt at a first page.
After this, I got strep throat (for the second time in three weeks, yay). While I was glued to the couch, I decided to try making some characters from just my head, without looking at a reference. This is something I’ve always struggled with, but lately I’ve been feeling like I’m capable of it. My experience tattooing has taught me a lot about lighting and shadows, and I did learn how to draw by building up shapes, so the pieces are starting to connect in my head. I also have this mental roadblock where I don’t feel like I’m as good of an artist digitally/on my iPad, but drawing on my iPad would be SO convenient. So… I gave it a try!
These guys are completely unrelated to the picture book I was working on, but I really like them. I think it’s fun that they’re cute, but also just slightly creepy. (I think it’s the eyes). Maybe I’ll use them for a different picture book down the line.
Well, that’s all from me! Thanks for reading, and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to know about upcoming releases and events in your city!
See you on the next page,
Willow
