It’s Monday morning here, and I don’t have time today to add a commentary, but I thought it’d be nice to show the progress shots of this illustration, of course, if anyone has any questions they’d like me to address, please feel free to ask…
Category Archives: WIP
One, Two, Three…
Recent art. I don’t hide the fact that I like drawing trees. Here’s the sketch, the line art and the finished painting…
Wanna Buy A Rolex?
Been having a play with the video camera today and, as I’ve been asked often about my inking process I thought I’d put one or two inking demos together. This birdie was was doodled for that purpose, I’ll be putting the video up on youtube in a day or two, but here’s how he looked when I’d finished, I definately tipped my hat in Arthur Rackham’s direction for this (and make absolutely no apologies for it)… Happy weekend everyone!
A Little Progress…
It’s late and I’m about to go to bed, very tired (yawn)… I’ve been tinkering away at this to wind down after a very long day, it’s still very much a work-in-progress, anyway, here it is as it stands….
Stepping Out….
I’ve been feeling the urge to get out the watercolours for the past few weeks, unfortunatley, due to the commisions I have on the go, this hasn’t been possible. As it was Sunday yesterday, I thought I’d do a little something for myself…. Here’s the finished image…
… And here’s the line art before I added the paint…
Violin…
I’ve been a reading a lot of Charles De Lint’s books lately, guess it’s coming out in my doodles…
model, the wonderful:
A dab here and a dab there….
I’ve been working on this one on and off for two years or more… here’s how it looks right now. I originally started it in oils but (due to time constraints) have been working on it digitally- I hope to finish it before the world ends….
model- the wonderful:
elandria.deviantart.com
Mischief…
Today’s doodle. Have so much work on the go, I’m afraid I’ll probably only be sketching these quickies for a spell….
in the meantime though… here’s a work-in-progress I’ve had on the go for a while, I’d like to get back onto this at some point….
Long Dress…
Recent watercolour painting. I haven’t finished this as I’ve reached a bit of a ‘stand-off’ with it. I’ve been playing a little in photoshop to see if I can rectify some of the lighting issues etc… This is what I have so far….
model:
Mermaid WIP
Currently on the easel (acrylic). See earlier posts here for youtube progress videos.
Naiad
A little illustration I currently have on the go, Up to the inking stage so far, I’ll be splashing watercolours over it very soon…..
Latest Demo….
Part FIVE of my latest painting demo:
On the go…
I started this one a while ago, I do a little to it every now and again, here’s where it stands right now, still a fair bit to do……
Freefall….
I started this one as sky-sketching practise, my skies are sorely lacking in my work and I feel I need to get doodling regularly to improve them, I added the figure as an afterthought….
Mermaid…
Haven’t had much time for sketching around all the commissions I have on the go at the moment, but I did manage to find the time to sketch this up for an old school pal….
Leaves In Watercolour…. (still at it)….
I’ve been working on this watercolour for maybe 7-8 months on and off, a little here and a little there around commissioned work, The hard work is starting to pay off and I can (at last) see results, only another 6 months or so to go (hehe).
Scribbling Til’ Something Appears….
Funny little sketch this one… I’d liked the background for a little while. I painted it in watercolour but it didn’t really have a purpose, it was one of those ‘just because’ sketches….. I threw it into my scanner, worked on it a little in photoshop and decided it still didn’t have a purpose and the it hit me, it needed a figure. I pilfered an elf from another pointless image and threw him over the top, worked on the image a little more and now have a pointless image with a figure in it (hehe).
leaves and polar bears…
I’ve been working on this painting on and off for a fair while now (see earlier posts), I can only sit and look at it in short busts, progress IS being made, albeit very slow progress…
below is a quick watercolour sketch I did for a book proposal, this one was rejected, but I still rather like it…
Painting Unicorns in watercolour video (part three)
Here’s part three of the Painting Unicorns video:
Painting a Unicorn in Watercolour Videos up on Youtube…..
My first ACEO….
I’ve seen these things everywhere and thought I’d have a little go. I think I’ll do more, very enjoyable to get the watercolours out and have a play. The finished size for an ACEO card is 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″. A little smaller than I’m used to but at least I had a good light to work with.
Also, here’s a painting I finished recently (medium- watercolour). The WIP was recorded in stages and uploaded to youtube, here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thatspaceinbetween
The videos can also be seen here a few posts ago….
Dragon- pencils to colour….
Still not much else I can post up at the moment and I’m not the type to blog all about the ins and outs of my life, soooo, here’s a recent illustration outlining how I get from pencils to coloured illustration. I must admit however, in this particular instance I’m rather more fond of the inked piece than I am of the finished article…..
*click for a larger view*
Inking On The PC…
I just found this in my files, thought I’d post it here, hope it’s helpful. I don’t ink on the PC often, but this is how I went about producing this illustration (originally published in The Official Corel Painter Magazine)….
I inked the image over the top of the sketch in a seperate layer using Corel Painter, then deleted the sketch layer when I was happy the illustration was finished. I haven’t gone too in detail with the technical aspects here but I’m very happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
*click on image for a larger view*
Waterfall sketch…
I can’t post what I’m working on right now so I thought I’d post a recent sketch. Part of an old drawing I cropped and coloured in photoshop…
Of Dragons….
I’m working on a little thingy right now… sketched up some conceptual stuff for the dragon in the story last night….
Here’s how it sat within the drawing once I’d made my mind up…. (I’ll post the finished art once I’ve drawn/painted it up properly)
Painting Koalas in watercolour part three
Koalas in watercolour video part two
new video…. Koalas in watercolour (part one)
Watercolour Demo- Elf and Mushrooms
Step-by-step ‘Wizard’.
I’m enjoying documenting my working process lately, it somehow helps me to cement the way I work and makes the creation of each image easier and easier. This one was a quickie I worked on over the weekend, I’ve been wanting to get back into using traditional media as much as possible so I took out the watercolours and painted away…..
Materials used: Arches 300gsm hot press watercolour paper, art spectrum, Daler Rowney, Winsor & Newton and Schminke artists quality watercolours, Art Spectrum white gouache for highlights and my wife’s hairdryer to dry between coats (speeds up the whole process)
Here’s my studio space setup for this painting:
step one
this is the sketch I’ve decided upon. it’s not drawn too tightly but there’s enough info to carry an ink line over the top, (I like to draw with the ink pens a little for a slightly ‘looser’, more spontaneous look.
step two
inking over the lines with generic drawing pens (using a .1 and a .3mm tip) paying particular attention to the main elements of the drawing, remembering at all times we’re painting over the top, so not becoming too bogged down with unnecessary cross-hatching etc. this is a very important step in the process.
step three
Using artists quality watercolours (I’ve chosen tubes rather than pans for this) we begin to lay down flat colours and a little texture for the cave wall. (the texture effect is achieved by dropping clean water into the wet paint, the water causes the paint to disperse).
step four
Moving throughout the whole image, never settling on any one particular area, we’re playing with the ‘form’ of each element within the image. We also lay in some colour inside the cave to give the illustration of depth.
step five
Still working on strengthening form, laying in colour washes and generally keeping a balance of warm and cool colours for harmony.
step six
Here we get down to makindarkening and strengthening the illustration. this is achieved by building up wash after wash of colour washes, all the while building them up and paying particular attention to tonal balance. We’d like our figure to stand out but not dominate the illustration.
step seven
This is my favourite part- getting into the details. More work is done tonally to achieve the look of the cracks and craters in the cave wall, a wash is laid over the entire wall to bring everything into balance, this in turn enables the eye to settle upon the main element of the painting- our wizard. For the details, I’ve mixed a little local colour with white gouache to add touches to the rocks and ground floor and pure white gouache was used on areas such as the hair on the wizard’s face and the trim of his cloak.
Winter Queen….
A preliminary watercolour for a piece I’m working on right now…..
Demo….
here’s a video I’ve just put up on youtube, this is a first for me, but expect a few more……
here’s the finished art based on the drawing:
Owl….
I LOVE painting birds, and I think the owl is just about my favourite of them all. Here’s one I sketched up last night in watercolour, finished off digitally…..
Step by Step….
I’m often asked how I produce my images and whether or not I follow a set of procedures. I guess the answer is yes, I do work similarly every time I create an image, although each image has it’s own set of problems and triumphs….here’re a few I managed to capture as I moved through the image. All were painted digitally and follow along the same lines as far as ‘rules’ are concerned.
1) thumbnail sketch 2) finished drawing 3)laying down local colours 4)working through the details…
for those interested….Videos of me working can be found on my youtube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thatspaceinbetween?feature=mhum#p/u
Young Queen…
Today’s sketch. I’m going to take this one further and use it for the book I’m currently working on…
My Art Book Now Available…
I’m very pleased to announce that my book ‘That Space In Between’ (A collection of my personal drawings and sketches) is now available to purchase from Amazon.com. Her’s the link:
(Cover art below)
Works On The Go….
As usual, plenty of things on the drawing board (and scattered around the studio), here’re a couple of things I’m currently working on, the top one’s an acrylic/oil version of an earlier digital painting and teh bottom one’s an image for a personal project…
Peeping… coloured…
I’ve got so much on the go at the moment, I don’t know which way is up. I started this illustration the other night and fully intended to paint it with watercolour (which I still will…eventually) but I needed something to wind down with last night so I coloured this digitally instead.
Peekaboo…..
This image had been hauting me all day yesterday, I waas up all night…I had to draw it… I’ll colour this with watercolour at some point….(maybe).
The Queen…
I found a half hour gap in my busy work schedule today… Thought I’d just scratch some tonal stuff into last week’s sketch.
Morning…
Doodling in front of the telly last night. I wanted to do something a little more lighthearted than usual. I wish I woke up in the morning like this instead of feeling like I’m made of lead from being too busy adventuring in my dreams…
Thorns….
No wonder the little feller’s looking grumpy. That doesn’t look like a particularly comfortable place to park yer bum does it….?
Wren and Friend…
Last night’s telly sketching. I seem to enjoy these sketches much more than my commissioned stuff at the moment. Maybe it’s because there’s no pressure or rules attached….
Swan Rider Sketch….
Last night’s sketching in front of the telly….
Finn- watercolour WIP….
I’m currently painting a watercolour of my son (at my wife’s constant request)…I’m rather pleased with how it’s going so far and enjoying it immensely- there’s something VERY satisfying about painting in watercolours.
WIP…….
something I’m tinkering with in quiet moments….
New stuff….
I’m absolutely totally and utterly busy right now…. (enough of an excuse to do some sketching for myself-(laughs)). here’s a little warmup drawing from this morning and an update of the image I’ve had on the go for the past few days…..
and here’s an old sketch from a few years ago….
Tender moments….
A quick sketch I drew up after finishing the cover this afternoon….
Here’s the drawing before I added the colour. I rather like this image, I may just tinker with it some more when I get a spare minute….
Cover WIP…
Here’s a WIP for a cover I’m currently working on…..
Dryad WIP…
I’ve tinkered around a little more with this painting. I may even get to finish this one at some point. I’m loving painting these beautiful tree ladies. (trees….pretty women…my favourite subjects).
Last night’s sketching before bedtime…
I’ve been wanting to splash some colour over this sketch for a little while. It’s not exactly what i had in mind and I’ll probably do this properly one day, but here’s what I came up with…
Owl Mistress WIP….
Another one of the many images I currently have on the go….
The model is the beautiful:
http://elandria.deviantart.com
Leafy Lady update…
Spent a little more time scratching away at this one in my warmup time before work today…
Flying…WIP
Sorry for not posting anything for a little while, I’ve got a few things on the go and am also currently working on a personal piece or two. I’ve attached a WIP of one here. Enjoying this immensely- very freeing!
