Back to black.

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Soulcraftcandyman

A catchy title to todays post but, for all music fans out there I’m not going to be offering comment on the great studio album by the late, great Amy Winehouse, though I would say that Tears Dry On Their Own is my favourite track by far. Anyway I digress.

As you can see above The TT racer is nearing completion with a healthy dose of inking being done. As the title of the post implies this is very much an exercise in chasing all of the colour washed areas back towards black in the darkest shadows. This has proved quite tricky for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is incredibly easy to get a bit carried away and over do it, so teaching oneself when to stop is a constant challenge. The second reason is more techy in the sense that it’s about the touch of the pen on the drawing surface. Water colour paper is quite heavily textured relative to normal papers and so maintaining a delicate touch across areas is quite hard as you are not engaging with a smooth surface, so the line can be a bit inconsistent. It’s just something you have to get used to and work with. This also catches those little blobs of ink that gather on the pen tip every now and then so constantly cleaning the nib is a must do habit to get into.

It is coming together well though and should be finished soon. Then I’ll be able to release the paper from the back board, give it a proper scanning without there being a large bit of wood attached to it, and post it up here. Here’s a close up which reveals some of the dodgy line work.

Awash with colour.

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Soulcraftcandyman

Building a finished image is a really exciting part of the picture making process. As each area of colour goes down and every line gets drawn, ones original vision is slowly realised and brought to life. It’s at times like this that one realises that the making part of creativity is as enjoyable, and sometimes more so, than the spawning of ideas.

So the TT racer image now has its full compliment of colour washes and is now ready for the remainder of the line work. It has gone pretty well so far though I have to admit to a small mistake, over on the right hand side, where the two white streaks exit the frame. You’ll see that I let the wash run over the line on the top one a bit, which has let a bit of blue in. I will have a try at removing some of the colour with a damp flat brush once it’s fully dry. It may not work but it’s really not a problem, errors occur every now and then, and it is much better to learn to work with and around them rather than beating yourself up about it. This is as much an experimental drawing as anything else so mentally I’m ready for small things not being perfect. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of white gouache at the end if it proves stubborn.

Putting the washes down, particularly the large areas of blue proved a bit nerve wracking as you never really know what it’s going to turn out like. Not being too proficient a water-colourist there is always a degree of unpredictability in laying in larger areas. But then again this provides a nice contrast to the precision of the following pen work. I have left two small blank boxes top and bottom, one for the story title and the other for any final thoughts or signature, we’ll see. Should have this done in a couple of days. Here’s a close up for you.

Making it different.

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Soulcraftcandyman

Apart from the story conveyed by an image to the viewer, a picture also contains another story, that which lies behind its creation. This is not the narrative expressed by the image but the tale of how the image was made. Whenever I look at an image the “maker” in me can not resist trying to work out how it was made. It is this questioning which drives my desire to try and share, whenever possible, the processes which lie behind the images I create. The techniques I use are not complex and I don’t use any cunningly developed or unique ways to create them, so why not let others see how these things come into being.

Above is the first sketch for a picture I am now working on. It comes from a series of sketches done for the V-twins project. The inspiration for it is american dirt track TT racing where oval tracks are supplemented with right hand turns and jumps. I find the idea of flinging a big heavy 750 around this kind of circuit attractively bonkers and so, worthy of a picture. It’s done simply in plain blue biro pen on some of the cheapest and low quality sketching paper I own. Believe me, it’s a good deal messier than the scan shows thanks to the wonders of playing with the levels in Photoshop in readiness for posting. Those shaded areas cover a multitude of hidden lines and you can see the engine has received some attention from the Tippex pen too.

Using my trusty little lightbox the image was transferred onto some water colour paper, firstly in pencil which was then overdrawn with fine black biro pen. I wanted to try having another go at introducing some colour to the images so thought I’d start on familiar ground with some water colour paints and inks. Normally one would stretch paper before making even an outline drawing, but that would not allow lightbox use so I stretched it after copying the drawing across. It’s a great way to do it and the image doesn’t seem to suffer any distortion at all.

The following images are my progress updates. The first is laying on some light washes to give the image its base colour. The second shows you what I’m aiming towards. By applying my usual biro pen technique over the washed areas I can achieve the impact I want but with a degree of colour behind it, and thus a nice bit of punch too. I suppose it’s very like how you ink in a comic strip but here I’m aiming for some variation in the tones and not such a contrasty finish. The third one just shows how far I’ve got. In reality I should have applied all the washes before picking up the pen but wanted to show what’s building as much as see for myself whether I was on the right track or not. Looking good, though forgive the odd colouration, my camera does odd things with daylight.