This was a lot of fun to make. The assignment for class was to illustrate a dream or nightmare. In my thumbs I had more cheerful ideas but the one idea that caught my eye was my experience of sleep paralysis several years back. People describe the experience as if someone is sitting on your chest and you can't move even though you want to. Its a weird inbetween of being awake and still dreaming. Thankfully I have only experienced it once so far (knock on wood). All I remember was trying to flip the light switch which took me a hour to do while I had bizarre images materializing and fading away into the shadows of the room. Once I did turn on the lights I realized that the reason for sleep paralysis was from lack of sleep and that I should go back to bed. So remember sleep is very important. A tired artist is a crappy artist.
As for the process I drew on Rives BFK mid-tone so I can put in shadows and highlights. I like drawing with FaberCastel's Polychromos series, and for this piece I used the Cobalt Blue. Highlights with white color pencil. Once done scanned the drawing and put it into Photoshop. I then made my flats, added some color, messed with layer adjustments, wiggled my fingers, and PRESTO I had a finished Illustration.
Line work
Flats
Final
Wow!. I see you've taken the James Jean approach to coloring. This turned out really good.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah I am very influenced by James Jean's work and work ethic. He's an example of what hard work can produce. I guess I am sort of in copy cat mode until I can find my own voice. Trying to learn from other peoples methods. Hopefully I will create something that is unique in the coming year.
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