Friday, January 5, 2007

From Start to Finish



Over the summer I didn't have access to a scanner, so I did a lot of sketching. It's been fun to paint and finish them up (sketching is probably my least favorite part of the process). Above is a summer sketch that I finally got around to. To create the finished product, I 1) sketched the first draft on paper, 2) scanned the image into GIMP (a free program like Photoshop) to clean up the smudges, 3) used Adobe Illustrator to add the border, stars, and moon (that's the second sketch above), and 4) printed it onto paper to stylize things with an ink pen (the last illustration). Since I need some black and white pieces for my portfolio, I decided not to paint this one.

When I paint, I use the same process as above. It sounds like a lot of work (and maybe it is for some), but all of the available software is so helpful! I don't know how illustrators once did it. It takes so much extra work to scale things to size, to place the images right where you want them, to always need a lightbox to trace again and again, to need to retrace everything if you mess up . . . Illustrators are pretty lucky these days!

2 comments:

Ben and Lacy said...

Angela You are really good. It was fun to get your email and to look at all of your websites. You inspire me. :)

Jamie Diane said...

Angela! I love looking at your illustrations! i love the bright happy colors. i'm so happy to hear from you. i need to email and catch up some time. love jamie