I thought I just share the process I go through when putting together a storybook illustration for in my sketchbook. The subject of this particular painting is Norton, the mouse. And a few of his friends. The drawing size is aprox 3.5 x 5 inches.
1. I start with a pencil drawing to work out the perspective, layout and details of the picture. Once I’m happy, I go over it with ink, to refine the lines. I might add some hatching for the shadows.
2. To get started on the painting, I usually lay down a wash of a solid color over the whole drawing. In this case, a brown wash. When it is almost dry, but not quite, I work in some of the major color blocks, and some of the shadows. The paint bleeds slightly into the background in a nice way because its not completely dry. Things are still very lose at this point, allowing for “happy” accidents that make for interesting paintings.
3. I continue to add more colors, and start working in the shadows to add more depth to the picture. My brush is getting smaller and smaller as I work from big shapes to more details. The painting looks very flat to me at this point. I need to add some deeper shadows to make certain areas pop more.
4. I decided darkened the top of the painting to give it more depth, and darkened the shadows using a bluish green wash. Everything was looking just a little TOO brown. The darker background helps the book stand out. When after all the painting was done, I went back over some of the lines that disappeared under the paint with my pen.
