IF: Detach

For this week's Illustration Friday topic "detach".


And one more within the same theme.

Experiments in Style and Liner Pens

Just a quick entry to post a little experiment to see if the raw line + graphic style of the canned series would work with my figurative stuff. I think it works just fine. Now I'm thinking my girls should have some arms so they can hold cans, bottles, etc. Maybe they could even stock some shelves.


Also, the image above is a short demo of microns vs. prismacolor liners under the solvent based chartpak markers. As you can see the prismacolors hold up much better than the microns. I've done other tests as well with watercolor and acrylics and the prismas always come out on top.

Moto-Vation

Yes, I know very well that's not how you spell motivation. It just looked better with the two o's design wise and I liked the play on words. Anyway, this is my first un-can can-type illustration. I am really having a wonderful time with this and I have so many ideas right now. I feel very "moto-vated".

Ah man! I totally spelled caffeine wrong. So much for the whole i before e thing. Oh wait... it's after c. Damn. (edit: fixed it.)

Canned!

So inspiration came knocking as I was drifting off to sleep last night. Illustration Friday recently ran a theme called "canned" and I caught a glimpse of the "pick of the week" for that theme: an illustration of canned fruits (which I really dig). And I thought to myself "what else can be canned that can't really be canned?". A strange thing to ask oneself I suppose, but I was looking for metaphor and such.

I wanted to can up intangible things. After some sketching and a fun batch of brainstorms the series of illustrations seen here is what came out.

I didn't actually look through all the illustrations on IF for the "canned" week, so maybe this has been done. Oh well. It hasn't been done by me. (EDIT: Okay, so I looked. There were a couple of "canned intangibles", but none of them looked like mine. I'm kind of gald I didn't look before because I wouldn't have wanted to be influenced by someone else's design. I like mine as... well mine.)

I think this is only the beginning of a bigger series and the beginning of more illustrations done in this style. When I look at them I feel good. I like what I see, so that's going to be my motivation.

I also plan to do some large scale canvas pieces in this theme which I think will just be plain enjoyable. I only hope I can get those nice flat graphic colors right. Or maybe I will opt for some texture. Who knows? The best part will be letting it all come together in that magically organic way.

Details (because process/technique should never be kept secret): All cans were hand drawn with prismacolor fine liners then scanned into my computer and digitally colored. Want to know how I add color with the computer? Just ask and I will fill you in as best I can. Be warned, I suck at tutorials.

IF: Garden, Chartpak Markers, Etc.

Here are a couple of Garden Girls for Illustration Friday's topic this week: Garden. I really like the color combos and line work. As always I love me some feedback and welcome your opinions. Read below for more info.




I went out and made an investment in some Chartpak AD markers. There is nothing else like them out there. The end results are really great - hardly any noticable strokes at all. Just be prepared to get a little high while using them. I can typically stand the smell for a little bit but lately I have noticed a distinct belly ache after using them for too long. That could be due to a recent battle with the flu though. Bottom line: If you're easily offended by smells then these are not the markers for you. Stick with Prismacolor and deal with the dried-out-marker-stroke-look. If you can tolerate something smelly for art's sake then Chartpaks are the way to go.

The line work is done with Prismacolor Fine Liners. I love them. They are waterproof - and really are waterproof - plus they hold up against the solvent base of the Chartpaks without running or smudging. Nice! They come in about half a dozen colors and all the standard fine line sizes. I prefer the tiny .005 over anything else. The illustrations above have some blue, green, and brown - all .005 line widths.

Oh, I tried the recommended marker paper as well - Beinfang Graphics 360 - and I'm not crazy about it. I have been using archival, bright white copy stock instead which these two pieces are done on.

Edit: Beinfang seems to be a great drawing paper. It takes ink without bleading and is transparent enough to trace with. I'm just not thrilled with how it handles the Chartpaks. They seem to make the paper more transparent then it already was - almost a glassy, vellum kind of thing happens to it.

New Series: Angels

This is a new series I'm working on. I'm hoping to complete a full series of 20 within this theme and style of varying sizes. They are all done with latex interior house paints - recycled from the local paint store - plus acrylic and ink line work. Yes, I do work with a ball point pen. I have a million of them but only a select few get to be my favorites. Right now I'm using one that was left lying around the house with the words eCompany Store written on it. It's big and I am in love with it. Ah... the simple things in life. Who says you have to spend a fortune in paint and other materials in order to make art?