Concept art for a short film

Wow, it’s been some time since I last posted a finished piece but…with good reason. I’ve started taking a Pencilling and Inking class with Leonard Kirk at the TCW and I’ve been working on commissions. Below is a sneak peak of a recently completed concept art piece I did for my friend Cherelle’s short film that’s currently in production. I wish I could show more but it will have to wait. More info about the film can be found here.

Sketch at a café

After the TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) and some art supply shopping, the hubby and I stopped at a gallery/café across from the AGO.  I wanted to try out my new mechanical blue pencil so drew a quick sketch of Victor.  He wanted to try out his new brush pen so inked it.  Here is the result.  I think we make a good team.

Dog portrait commission – Part 2

Attached are some more steps in the process. Keep in mind I’m not a paid professional – yet! – so my steps aren’t necessarily the right way but what I felt comfortable with and still gave me a sense of organized process.

In the first image, I painted out the fur, varying from high- to low-tones and not focussing on any specific one. This step put most of the image together with lots of room for refinement. For example, I noticed that the dog’s face seemed a little too long so I made some adjustments that better resembled the subject. Although I didn’t have a photo of the dog in the pose that you see, I used other photo references to help me place him in a similar manner. One thing I had to be careful about using references in this way is that I started taking different little bits from each photo for the dog and each photo wasn’t specific to the dog but just an example of a similar breed.

In the second image, I focused on making the image more like the dog in question. At this point, the only photos I would refer to were of the dog though the poses were different than the one I was painting. I was able to focus on the more specific details about this dog and apply them to this image. Having too many references – especially disparate – can be confusing and distracting. I also took the time to make the fur more realistic. That is, I downplayed each hair and tried to make them less distinct individually and make them more distinct as a group. When we see an animal’s fur in life, we don’t notice each strand but rather clumps as they’re arranged around their body.

In the third image, I started to block in the background. This image needs to be done by Valentine’s Day so I had better get back to it!