A Little Bit of Process

I found some pictures I had taken to show process for a few projects and thought it might not be a bad idea to post them up here.

Here are a few shots of the spider-man/venom painting I did a while back. This was me just starting the final pencils on the illustration board. I stick very closely to my pencil rough, seen on the left, for this portion in order to maintain the composition I planned in the thumbnail. Afterwards I will fix up my drawing by looking at any photo reference I might use. (For example: to get subtle anatomical details.) Please excuse the disgusting photoshopping on the final pencils on the right, the drawing wasn't very visible in the original photo...

Here you can see the drawing as it's coming to a finish. I'll be posting up the final art soon.

This next project required a bit of touch-up with the background and smoke, as I really hated the look of it as it was. This consisted of color matching and painting the area that was originally smoke, obscuring his face, which was then followed with airbrushing the background and smoke as well as a few effects. I had done some digital airbrushing after the color matching portion of the painting was done, but I really wanted this to be a completely traditional piece.

At this stage I had only done the color matching on his face and then placed a sheet of paper frisket over the entire painting, making sure to cover the entire live area.

After the frisket is down on the board, I took a VERY sharp blade and started to cut around the shape of the figure. This can be very time consuming depending on the shape you are cutting around. You also have to make sure not to cut into the board or damage the paint in any way.

I laid down a flat layer of gouache to serve as the lighter area of the background. A nice thing about using the airbrush is being able to get perfectly flat tones while also keeping the surface texture of the paper or board you like. I always enjoy seeing the texture in paintings.

I then laid in some sepia mixed with black in a gradient. I wasn't going for a perfect transition, because generally I feel like that is too mechanical and stiff for my work. Notice you can see the reflection off of the transparent paper frisket.

After the background was laid in, I worked on my favourite thing with airbrushes. Highlights, gleams and effects. They are so fun to do, especially with a painting that is utilizing dramatic and harsh lighting. Obviously, the paper frisket is gone by this point, so you have to be really sure of what you're doing. This is the finished piece.