Original Line Art for "Riordan vs the Ogres "
Have you ever wondered about the creative process an artist goes through once they have an idea what they wish to create? I wish I could say mine was a intricate, masterful set of steps, but I'm not quite that profound. Usually when I do an original picture, I work up a pencil drawing, ink over the final pencils(for example, the picture at the top of the blog), then color the work (usually in Prismacolor Color Pencils). The result usually results as the follows.
"Riordan vs The Ogres" (final work)
I have found, however, that when I digitally repaint over my line arts, the colors and shading seem to "pop" a bit more and seems a lot cleaner. Shading and lighting effects seem a lot easier as well.
Comparison of "Dark Violinist" as finished by color pencil vs digital paint.
It's not an easy process. I don't have a scanner, so most of my line art I've had to capture digitally with my cel phone's camera. So, instead of being able to paint beneath the lines (like you can in most Painting softwares when you draw the lines dirctly on the computer), I have to paint over everything using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 6 (it's a simpler system and I don't get lost as easy. I usually use the paintbrush setting on light to establish basic coloring (and to keep my ink line in sight), then refine the work from there, increasing the paint output as needed and adding details, lighting, shading, etc.
I'm actually planning digitally repainting more of my original line arts. Some I'm doing because, for some reason or another, I wasn't happy with the final colors I did originally. Others I'm doing because I've lost or had to toss the original line arts I had BEFORE I had the chance to color them (long story, that). In all cases, I'm hoping to overcome a creative dry spell I've been in for a bit (also the reason I haven't updated here in a while). I'm only human...I have times like this, just like everybody else.
Below are some of the line arts I'm considering. Which one's would you like to see get the digital treatment?
dhbraley
Original Line Art to "Will Steampunk Batman Survive??"
Original Line Art to "It Seems We Forgot Something"
Original Line Art to "Two Knights and Two Maidens"
Original Line Art to "Hail, Rhiannon, The Warrior Queen"
All art Shown here is copyrighted to me through deviantArt.com and is my intellectual property. Please do not steal my work.