Neo Demo
Thank you everyone for your interest! Below is a
basic look at the process.
Click on the drawings for a large image.
Supplies: One clutch pencil with HB lead, one clutch pencil with 2B lead, electric eraser, kneaded eraser, sharpener and basic copy paper.
Corel Painter IX: So far I have stuck with two brushes: Artists’ Oils/Soft Blender Brush and Oils/Detail Oils Brush 15.
Two Cloners I used on the background: Cloners/Camel Oil Cloner and Cloners/Wet Oil Cloner 10
I begin by studying the
victim reference extra small or at a distance. This keeps me in shapes and not bogged down in details that are not necessary at this time. For EVERY caricature, I take the time and study how some of my favorite artists handled similar faces. See “Links”.
Sketch One: After Studying, most shapes should be figured out in my head. I then try to translate those thoughts to paper, which do not always work out. RARELY do things work, for me, on the first round. I work lightly to insure changes are easy to make.
Sketch two: I am fairly comfortable with Sketch One and scan it in for some “pushes and pulls”. Using this step as a crutch is a REAL danger.
A HUGE help for me. Real jobs or play. I will work a stage of a drawing or illustration and SET IT ASIDE, move onto another portion of the project or most times I have multiple pieces going on at the same time. I had three other caricatures going as I was working on Leo. An hour or a day later I can come back to the artwork with much more objectively and honesty, attacking the weak parts more confidently.
From a print of my “pushes and pulls”, I tape a clean sheet of paper and resketch the new cartoon. I do not use the light table because I’m not looking to trace the “pushes and pulls”, but use it as a guide.
Using the scan of the second pencil (8.5x11@300dpi) I create a PSD file with the pencil on a “multiply” layer (20%-40% transparency) and block in color on a second layer. The background is pasted up using the photo (knowing that something will be done to it later).
Open the new PSD file and “save as” a Painter RIFF file. Start blocking in shapes and playing with color. I attempted a “clone” of the background but was not happy... it is too busy.
I deleted the pencil layer and began tighten and cleaning up shapes.
Softening colors and shapes and adding details. Happy with the feel of a blurred and muted background but want it to better match the painted cartoon.
Added final details, tightened and softened up more shapes and “cloned” the background. Reopened RIFF file as PSD and color corrected a few areas.
The differences are MUCH better seen by building a layered, PSD file of each of the images and flipping through the layers.
Thanks again! Please, let me know your thoughts.
