IF: Fierce

click for large version
(Please do, it looks pretty crummy in
such a miniscule resolution...)

Drawing fiercely! Too bad one of
the light bulbs is broken...

My schools annual exhibition is approaching,
and I´ve been asked to make one of the posters
for our classes rooms. I did this one in a larger
format than usual, and it shows in how much more
detail than usual I crammed in there. And somehow drawing
animals heads is much more fun than human faces to me...
I think I find the shapes involved more interesting.

I also did some work-in-progress shots
of it, to give you a little peek into
my work routine (Haha, "routine"...)
(You can enlarge each of these as well.)


I actually did the head first the day before.
I usually do the heads and faces on a separate sheet
and then cut-and-paste them.



I did this piece on two seperate sheets
because it´s easier to scan it this way.
There is also very little penciling involved,
just a few vague orientation lines.
This way I stay more flexible and
I improvise A LOT to keep things
exciting, and also because I am lazy.



Skribble, skribble, doodle, doodle.
This is my favourite part because
at this point I usually can see whether or not
it´s going to be any good, and I can lose
myself in the details. Very relaxing.



Here you can see White-Out (called Tipp-Ex in Germany, though
in this case it´s actually a Pentel correction pen, very handy!)
and the cut-and-paste marks. Things can get pretty messy
after some time because I started to cut and paste
a lot more ever since I make more complex drawings.

After I finished drawing by hand I scan it all
in, clean it up in GIMP (a free Photoshop clone, I can´t
be bothered to spend truckloads of money for software
I just use for basic coloring and editing), add some
simple color and draw in the white parts,
the letters in this case. A very efficient and
timesaving work routine; I did this piece in half
day while catching up with the Euro cup soccer final on
the radio. Getting a proper idea, however, takes
a lot more time, and I guess I got lucky in this case ;)

Hope you enjoyed my little tour!

IF: Punchline

click each to enlarge. Please, I encourage you.

Punchline, eh? Here´s my punchline for this
weeks Illustration Friday:

"Who let the dogs out?"

And what dogs they are.

I like the first one better, but overall
all these black elements were a lot of
fun to do. I tend to do a lot of scribbling
and adding details, so putting in more
solid black parts adds to the overall
contrast. I only did that once before,
here.

I´m thinking of picking up regular
posting again from now on, the deadline
for my book project is somewhere end
of July or August, so I have still
a lot of time to finish that AND draw
some other things on the side. I just
needed to do something with a little
color again. Hope you like it.