This towel drawing has probably been the most problematic one for me, since , as I mentioned earlier, the form was drawn more with linework in mind. Last night I went to buy a muffin to have for breakfast this morning, and as I waited for the elevator I found myself posing in the lobby to see how overhead lighting created the proper shadows. I'm so used to drawing comic book style, where all sorts of made-up lighting effects can reign, and I wanted to be a bit more (although not strictly, since the proportions are still based in fashion illustration, i.e. looooong) true to form. I think this is as good as it's gonna get, and as said before, "Done is better than perfect." I might need to embroider that on a pillow.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Toweled Off
This towel drawing has probably been the most problematic one for me, since , as I mentioned earlier, the form was drawn more with linework in mind. Last night I went to buy a muffin to have for breakfast this morning, and as I waited for the elevator I found myself posing in the lobby to see how overhead lighting created the proper shadows. I'm so used to drawing comic book style, where all sorts of made-up lighting effects can reign, and I wanted to be a bit more (although not strictly, since the proportions are still based in fashion illustration, i.e. looooong) true to form. I think this is as good as it's gonna get, and as said before, "Done is better than perfect." I might need to embroider that on a pillow.
I'm really curious about the watercolor brushes that you use. I've always struggled with how to create that effect digitally. How do you do it??
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I had to resort to actual watercolors, for the background at least. There was no way to really mimic the color bleeds that I wanted.
ReplyDeleteThe hair is another matter: I basically layered many different free Photoshop watercolor "brushes", which aren't brushes so much scans of strokes and splatters. Google "watercolor brushes" and quite a few freebies crop up.
Now if you think the body looks like it's watercolor, then thank you, and I can say I customized a few brushes and used them almost exclusively for all the Spa pieces I created. If you think that's so, then I'm more than happy to share those presets with you. I made about 4 after sampling dozens of free brushes online, selecting the ones I liked best then altering their presets a bit (maybe more scattering with one, wet edges with another) then painting at percentages in strokes so there was a level of transparency.
Let me know which part(s) of my renderings strikes you as most authentic, and if I can flesh out the techniques and resources for you even more, I'll give it a shot!