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Before I go ahead and work on the final art, I want to be sure I know what I'm doing colour-wise. This 'mocking up' of the illustration helps me to consider potential issues such as clothing colours, lighting, environment, materials (metal/wood/fabric etc). 
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Taking the initial thumbnail to a more finished level here. Not done yet, I just wanted to throw some colours over the top of the middle sketch to have a good idea of where I'll be going when it comes to the final art. All of these steps make the transition to the finished illustrations a lot easier and it's well worth taking the extra time to see these steps through...  Here's what I've been working on for the past week. laying out the rough drawings to see how the book will look on the whole. The benefits to working this way are (and not limited to) a) Pacing b) Design c) Consistency d) A good working process e) An 'overview' approach is taken so as to see how the text AND illustrations work with each other f) Room is left for text which will save many problems down the track. I had already sketched the thumbnails up roughly (2-5 minutes doodles), my next move is to then run through all the illustrations again to refine them, this stage includes far more tonal work than the rough sketches had, I do this to work out any lighting the scene may need. This all allows for a smoother transition to the finals (anything to make the job easier is a system to be embraced). Next, looking to have the art approved and hopefully move into working on the final illustrations themselves- I can feel 'colour' calling :-)  I think I may have mentioned how much I love working on this part of the illustrative process. As an avid sketcher, I love throwing the pencil around to see what happens, it's pure creativity, not focusing on being too picky and introducing elements that may (or may not) find their way into the final illustration. Sketch 1) Is my initial thumbnail doodle, just pulling elements from the text to articulate what the author is hopefully seeing and sketch 2) is taking the initial thumbnail and making things a little more coherent, to hopefully push the idea more towards a finished product- working up the characters body language and features, seeking out textures of the materials, playing with the environment etcetc..   No self respecting book about Pirates would be complete without a view of the ship (this one has a really cool name btw). Here's the rough for the first 2-page spread in the book. Note, space on the RHS is for the text. Such things need to be taken into account. Nothing worse than text thrown over an image inappropriately...  Poor Patrick, hard done by little lad. It's not easy being the ship's dogsbody... Had a blast with this one, very much looking forward to working on this scene...  Here's me working out a 'look' for Patrick's Parrot... When I first came to Australia 17 years ago, I spent the first three years of my artistic life out here as a wildlife artist. I drew (and painted) a LOT of animals, needless to say I drew a LOT of Parrots. I say this all the time but your time spent as a fine artist comes in really handy when you illustrate. Parrots are a lot of fun to draw...  Drawing Pirates is fun. A LOT of fun. So much scope to get in and play with the characters and warp their features... 'eaps of 'andsome buggerrrs 'ere. Arrrr.....  Here's a quick conceptual sketch for pages 14-15 of the book. Keen-eyed viewers will note that I'm working digitally. It's easier, quicker, less messy and immediately filed. For somebody with my quick brain and patience levels for 'getting the job done', digital media is an absolute Godsend... You can view it's progress via the video I made, approx. 26 minutes down to around 6 minutes... Click HERE to view  Tonight I worked on this drawing of Cook, I wanted to elaborate on yesterday's sketch (see earlier post) and take it a little closer to a finished image. I LOVE drawing this guy...  The next step on the journey (for me anyway) is to get the characters from the book worked out. Robin and I discussed the look of many of the characters over coffee. It's here I make notes and keep the character of the (ahem) 'character' in my head. I'll often make quick sketches as we speak to help me out. Robin has a very visual way of describing things and it doesn't usually take much for me to see what she sees, a symbiotic author/illustrator team is worth it's weight in gold and makes the whole process both easy AND enjoyable. (We illustrators love such clients...) MEET THE CAST... 'Patrick' Firstly, I like to flesh out the main character, in this particular case, it's our young pal Patrick. Patrick was easy to visualise as Robin described him during our coffee meeting. Here are a few sketches I made of him...    'Captain Patch' The ship's captain is the second lead character in the story and as such, I needed to have him down well enough to draw him confidently throughout the book. I very much enjoyed working on him and will have fun with him throughout the process...  'Cook' I love drawing this guy. A book such as this gives you such scope to play and have fun, I hope to carry the great time I'm having at this stage through to the final stages, it's sure to come across in the end product...    I've just begun a new book for the very lovely Robin Adolphs- A Brisbane-based author of children's books. I've illustrated two other books for Robin in the past and this one is my favourite to date. Robin has a bright and breezy, heart-centred way about her writing and it speaks to me. To be illustrating her newest book is truly an honour and I've taken to this gig with a great sense of enthusiasm and (with Robin's permission) have decided to journal my doings in this blog. It's also my intention to have Robin here to post her thoughts and words of wisdom along the way... The Cover I usually find my artistic feet on a new project by beginning with the cover design, this might just be a personal quirk but my reasons are this: 1) it helps to work out the main characters (if they feature in the cover design, that is...) 2) It sets the 'look' or the 'tone' of the book 3) Last but not least, it helps the artist (me, in this case) to feel as though I've achieved something. A canvas painter would see this step as a blank canvas and those initial marks help to 'break the ice'. This step is very much an ice-breaker and one I would highly recommend. I'll post character sketches and progress shots as I go but for now, here's how the cover design is looking at this stage... The conceptual doodle... My favourite part of the process, this. I very much enjoy throwing the pencil (or digital pencil) around and seeing what happens. There's no pressure at this stage, the loose energy translating itself into something that vaguely resembles an idea. As a creative person, it's the 'stumbling-onto' of new ideas that gets me moving the most. Any stages thereafter can be fun but usually require more thinking. At this point, for me at least, it's all about letting go and seeing what happens... Step Two- Tightening Up I've scanned the sketch into my drawing software on the PC and have given it a once over, bringing things together to create a more coherent idea. Things gradually begin to take shape from this point (click on image to view progress below...) See the tones beginning to creep into the line art? Next, I add a sepia overlay. It helps to lose the white of the canvas and offers more tonal variation enabling me to push and pull the lights and the darks to set a more solid underpainting. I work this way traditionally and it helps to adopt a similar proven, working method with your digital art. You'll see in the last step here that I've thrown some colours over the top, this helps to work out the look of the characters and is also helping to move the image to a more finished stage. Still a fair way to go but it's all coming together...  Here's the final cover rough, complete with text placement and lightened for clarity. The finished cover will be far brighter and bolder colour-wise, more refined artistically, but at this point, we have a good idea of the direction the book is taking, a good feel for the characters and we've broken the ice... brilliant.
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AuthorAaron Pocock is a 40-something illustrator based in Brisbane, Australia who has been'arting' and illustrating since he was old enough to hold a pencil... It is the intent of the artist to both enlighten AND entertain and he hopes this blog will be found both useful and enlightening. Stop back here often for new content... ArchivesCategories
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