Ink Sketch Process: Baymax and Hiro

Those of you that follow me on social media Sites like Facebook and Instagram know that for the past few weeks I've been experimenting with ink on toned paper. A few of you have asked about my process for creating these sketches so I thought a blog post was in order.

My materials are outlined in the above photo and I will proceed to give a step by step process down below.

Today's subject is Baymax and his pal Hiro. I loved Big Hero Six and Have been wanting to draw these two guys for a while now. This was the perfect opportunity to do so. If you haven't seen the movie yet you need too its a lot of fun! Okay back to the tutorial...

First: I start off with a loose pencil sketch with a Black Prismacolor Col-Erase pencil on a smooth heavy weight toned gray paper. I really like these types of pencils because they typically don't smear all that much and they don't get all shinny like graphite can after you work it to much. 

Second: I grab my trusty Copic Markers and start to lay in some of the values. For this type of sketch I use the warm gray set but any gray markers will work fine.

 Third: Using my Pentel pocket Brush Pen and begin to ink the sketch. For the the larger black areas I grab a large flat wash brush and some Higgins black ink. I used to only use a brush pen for this step and it would take forever. However using the larger brush cuts the time by over 75%.

 Once the inks are laid down I load up an old "clean" toothbrush with some black ink and using a old credit card I flick the ink and spatter it all over the drawing. This helps to give the drawing more texture. It's a little nerve wrecking to do this to a perfectly good drawing but the effect is well worth it. 

 Fourth: After the pervious step I have to let the inks dry. Sometimes to speed up this process I'll use a blowdryer to quickly dry the inks. Once the inks are completely dry I use I white prismacolor pencil and lay in some highlights in a cross hatching pattern working across the form. 

Then using a #6 round brush and a little  titanium white acrylic paint I paint directly over the white pencil to help create some gradients and subtle transitions. After the acrylics are dry I'll use a white gel pen to add in some more highlights and the smaller details. now that all the highlights are laid in I'll load my brush up with some watered down white acrylic paint and then I'll spatter it all over the drawing just like I did with the black inks to add more texture and a little variance. After the paint dries I add in the old John Hancock signature and the sketch is done. 

I've included several drawings in which Ive applied a similar process. I'd love to see your drawings  using this same or a similar process. Feel free to email me or tag  me in your social media posts. Also if you have any comments sound off down below! Now get out there and draw! 

-Adam

Hellcat: Marker Drawing Process!

I get a lot of questions about my process for sketching and drawing with markers. A lot of people ask how I get such vibrant colors. So I thought for this weeks blog post I'd share my simple three step process for how I go about drawing with this super fun and amazing medium.

Step 1:

I start out with a loose pencil sketch usually drawn with a red, blue or black Prismacolor Col-Erase pencil.  I love these pencils because they don't really smear and they have a soft waxy feel when you draw with them. I've been using them for years and absouluty love them.

 I draw on all sorts of papers and surfaces. My preferred paper is an 80lb heavy stock "oatmeal" colored paper made by the French Paper Co. It's a great paper for mid tones and really helps to harmonize colors better than traditional white paper.  

Step 2:

Once the rough sketch is to my liking I move on to the next step which is applying the marker washes. I say washes because I treat the markers a lot like you would a watercolor painting. Working from light to dark building up the values and the layers. 

As far as the actual marker goes any brand will work. Copic, Touch, Prismacolor etc... I happen to use a super cheap design marker made by Utrecht. I love how juicy and vibrant they are. The nibs (tips) are fantastic and can provide a wide range of marks and strokes.  On one side you get a chiseled tip and on the other side you get a really nice flexible brush. The best part is that they only cost $1.99 compared to $5.00-10.00 for the other brands!

Step 3:

Now that the markers are laid down now its time to make these colors really pop! This step for me is the most exciting because this is where the drawing really comes to life. I use a process similar to oil painting where you paint, or in this case draw, the lights over the darks. 

I grab my trusty box of Prismacolor colored pencils and start to work over the top of the markers drawing bringing out the highlights and accenting the character. The trick is to not be too heavy handed, keeping your hand light and barley touching the surface of the paper building up the layers. 

Final:

There you have it! Like most things in regards to painting and drawing it's all about the process. Certain process will yield different results. In my case this is the process that I have come to really enjoy. Is it the only way to draw with markers and colored pencils? Of course not. I would encourage all you to try experimenting and develop your own process. Feel free to comment or ask questions down below. 

I am currently working  a more in depth video tutorial of this process. I'll post it up once it is completed. Until next time take care and keep drawing!

Links for materials:

French Paper Co.

Utrecht 

Prismacolor 

Update: I did a little digital painting of Hellcat

Pie-Rat!

Avast, me hardys! Thar be Pie-Rats!

For this blog post I thought that I would share with you my first ever animated GIF! This is a nice way to show all of you a quick version of my digital painting process. Like the Harry Potter tutorial, I'm following the same basic steps of line art, flat colors, shadow pass, lighting pass, and an overpaint. Only for this painting I skip the grayscale process and go straight to color.

As far as the subject goes I was laying in bed the other night and thought that it would be funny to paint a "pie-rat"! So I when I woke up the next morning I thumbnailed some possible ideas and compositions. Once I found what I was looking for I sketched our little friend out. After a little bit of painting we have our master of the seven cheese!

Oh and on a side note I recently purchased CS6! This was my first painting using the new software. Overall I'm pretty happy with the new version of Photoshop!

Have a fantastic day everyone!

Demo Painting...

Last night I had the opportunity to do a quick demo for the Illustration Club at UVU. For this demo I wanted to show my initial steps for creating digital paintings in Photoshop CS5. I had about 30-45 minutes to work so I had to work faster than I usually like to. This isn't meant to be a full tutorial but quick guide into my process.

Step one: I open a previously scanned image in photoshop.
Step two: I separate the line art from the white background.
Step three: I create new layer and fill it with 50-70%  gray. I place this layer underneath the line art.  Step four: I create a new layer and sandwich it in between the gray layer and my line art.This is the layer that I will start to block in my ruff values. When I'm blocking in the values I stay zoomed out and use a large brush. This step should only a couple of minutes.
Step five: Starts after I'm finished blocking in ruff values. For this step I create a layer above all of my art work, I call this my overpaint layer. On this layer I will paint out the line art. Also I start varying my brush size and start to zoom in and out to get a little more detailed. This is the layer where I start to blend the brush strokes.
Step six: When I am happy with my grayscale painting I start glazing color over the grayscale image. I do this by using multiply and color layers. After I have the colors blocked in I flatten my image and continue to refine the painting.