I'd love to hear more about how you arrive at your colour palettes. Do you experiment and see what works best, or do you start with a colour or whole palette already in mind?
Glad to know you found it helpful. Yes I do plan a color palette before I start. Not the exact color palette, but I choose the colors based on what emotion I want to evoke or how I want the reader to FEEL. Like this one, it's a jungle (but not a dense forest) and the time of the day is afternoon. So the brighter green and yellow shades. If this was set in the evening or at night the color palette would be different. Also, if I wanted to show a sense of Danger or mystery the color palette would not be the same.
I'm always interested to read anything about process. What you said about choosing colour based on evoking feelings in the reader is really interesting. Where you start with your choices and how that progresses into a full palette that works together would be really great to read about. 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing! It's always interesting to see how others do it.
Contrary to you, I often draw (just, I do it traditionally with the help of a light board) over the first sketch that satisfies me, because in this way I force myself to keep the wonkiness of that sketch. Otherwise I risk "polishing" lines and forms and drifting towards realism, away from humour.
Thankyou for sharing your process Dunja. Do you scan and adjust the images digitally if its for a project? And if yes, which app or software do you use?
In the past, I always made an effort to get the whole illustration perfect, and if it was large or complicated, it was so frustrating (that was because I was selling the originals). Now I have stopped doing that and when necessary I finish by improving them in Photoshop: adding contrast or darkening/brightening some parts to get more drama and depth.
But I don't paint in Photoshop as I only have the good old mouse and PC, and no Wacom or iPad and such! (Although I would love to try the latter).
It's tough if you are selling the originals. But additing details and contrast on photoshop. If you are choosing between a wacom and ipad.. I would sure go for ipad. I only have an ipad and I have never used photoshop.. and never felt the need so far.
You will never regret it for sure Dunja. Especially if you are looking at becoming a ChildrenBook illustrator some kind of digital app or tool I feel is essential.. because of the timeline crunch, deadline pressure and the edits that come in. Moving characters, changing settings and all other stuff.. you would lose your mind if you have to re-do a piece from scratch. Or you can still choose to work traditionally but work in college with layers the characters and settings.. that way for changes it would be easier
Yes, that's exactly why I'd like to try it! Also, it takes so long to wait for layers of a wet medium like gouache or watercolour to dry. Or even with dry materials like soft pastels, I sometimes have to stop - when I run out of fixative!
At the moment an iPad is out of my budget, but I hope someone will bring theirs to Bologna and I could try it out so I know what to expect one day...
Thankyou Hippo. Usually I think for most of us, it's the sketches that have all the life and as we start thinking, tweeking, detailing.. we have a beautiful piece but the life and movement gets lost
You are so right Hippo. The life in sketches.. especially the ones we do without much thinking or just in flow is so much more beautiful than a detailed one.
No, I just have an old iPhone 8 to take pictures or videos of my drawings and I don't edit the result. I don't have iPad, Procreate or Photoshop. I don't even change the settings of the camera. I would like to buy a refurbished Ipad later this year (🤞🏻) but it is to draw to make stickers, not to edit my analogous drawings.
Thanks for sharing your process. I have a question for you, how much time it takes the layering to the final drawing? I usually scan my draft and then work on it digitally, but seeing this makes me think that sketching digitally makes you more free to experiment on the original idea (sketched out on paper), isn’t it? Anyway, love this!
Hi Guisy.. glad you liked it.. yes you are right. Sketching digitally is a lot more quicker and would save me lot of time than sketching in sketchbooks. But for me personally, I enjoy sketching in the sketchbooks.. I love scribbling and scratching.. and marking what's working and what's not working for me. Its just a personal choice.
Terrific post, Rekha, thanks for sharing!
I'd love to hear more about how you arrive at your colour palettes. Do you experiment and see what works best, or do you start with a colour or whole palette already in mind?
Glad to know you found it helpful. Yes I do plan a color palette before I start. Not the exact color palette, but I choose the colors based on what emotion I want to evoke or how I want the reader to FEEL. Like this one, it's a jungle (but not a dense forest) and the time of the day is afternoon. So the brighter green and yellow shades. If this was set in the evening or at night the color palette would be different. Also, if I wanted to show a sense of Danger or mystery the color palette would not be the same.
That's really interesting, thanks for replying Rekha!
Would you like me to share anything specific on choosing color or color palettes?? Color is one of my most favourite subject
I'm always interested to read anything about process. What you said about choosing colour based on evoking feelings in the reader is really interesting. Where you start with your choices and how that progresses into a full palette that works together would be really great to read about. 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing! It's always interesting to see how others do it.
Contrary to you, I often draw (just, I do it traditionally with the help of a light board) over the first sketch that satisfies me, because in this way I force myself to keep the wonkiness of that sketch. Otherwise I risk "polishing" lines and forms and drifting towards realism, away from humour.
Thankyou for sharing your process Dunja. Do you scan and adjust the images digitally if its for a project? And if yes, which app or software do you use?
In the past, I always made an effort to get the whole illustration perfect, and if it was large or complicated, it was so frustrating (that was because I was selling the originals). Now I have stopped doing that and when necessary I finish by improving them in Photoshop: adding contrast or darkening/brightening some parts to get more drama and depth.
But I don't paint in Photoshop as I only have the good old mouse and PC, and no Wacom or iPad and such! (Although I would love to try the latter).
It's tough if you are selling the originals. But additing details and contrast on photoshop. If you are choosing between a wacom and ipad.. I would sure go for ipad. I only have an ipad and I have never used photoshop.. and never felt the need so far.
Thanks for the advice on the iPad! I would love to try it one day.
You will never regret it for sure Dunja. Especially if you are looking at becoming a ChildrenBook illustrator some kind of digital app or tool I feel is essential.. because of the timeline crunch, deadline pressure and the edits that come in. Moving characters, changing settings and all other stuff.. you would lose your mind if you have to re-do a piece from scratch. Or you can still choose to work traditionally but work in college with layers the characters and settings.. that way for changes it would be easier
Yes, that's exactly why I'd like to try it! Also, it takes so long to wait for layers of a wet medium like gouache or watercolour to dry. Or even with dry materials like soft pastels, I sometimes have to stop - when I run out of fixative!
At the moment an iPad is out of my budget, but I hope someone will bring theirs to Bologna and I could try it out so I know what to expect one day...
Hi Rekha, very interesting to see everyone process. I love all your scribbly sketches and the final result. Have a lovely week too!
Thankyou Hippo. Usually I think for most of us, it's the sketches that have all the life and as we start thinking, tweeking, detailing.. we have a beautiful piece but the life and movement gets lost
I agree. I think that may be why, when I am happy with my sketches, I never do a final piece. I am sure I won't do as good and I will be disappointed.
You are so right Hippo. The life in sketches.. especially the ones we do without much thinking or just in flow is so much more beautiful than a detailed one.
Yes!
Do you edit your images digitally Hippo?
No, I just have an old iPhone 8 to take pictures or videos of my drawings and I don't edit the result. I don't have iPad, Procreate or Photoshop. I don't even change the settings of the camera. I would like to buy a refurbished Ipad later this year (🤞🏻) but it is to draw to make stickers, not to edit my analogous drawings.
Thanks for sharing your process. I have a question for you, how much time it takes the layering to the final drawing? I usually scan my draft and then work on it digitally, but seeing this makes me think that sketching digitally makes you more free to experiment on the original idea (sketched out on paper), isn’t it? Anyway, love this!
Hi Guisy.. glad you liked it.. yes you are right. Sketching digitally is a lot more quicker and would save me lot of time than sketching in sketchbooks. But for me personally, I enjoy sketching in the sketchbooks.. I love scribbling and scratching.. and marking what's working and what's not working for me. Its just a personal choice.
Thanks for sharing, Rekha! I love seeing the process from sketch to final art.
Thankyou Michelle. I think it's good to see how all of us work because I am sure no two people work the exactly the same way.
So nice to see a bit of your working process Rekha, love the scribbly sketches as much as the final result!