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.
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The theme this week for Illustration Friday was “Star Gazing.” Starry skies are high on my list of things I love to draw, so how could I resist doing this one? So I painted Norton, and a friend out at night looking up at the sky. Maybe they are wondering if the rumors about the moon being made of cheese is real. In my mind the second mouse is Molly, but she doesn’t look very white is this picture. Maybe she got a little dirty on her climb up the hill.
