Lilac Window

I am so inspired by all the painting that my students are doing. I realize that I have got to put brush to paper myself. I am working on another book – or perhaps series. I realize that I need to work differently than the last project. My process before was:

1. Sketch out thumbnails of the story board
2. try to draw characters, using my imagination or photos.
3. draw each character from different angles
4. more thumbnails of each page
5. draw/sketch charcoals of each page the correct finished size
6. trace charcoal sketch onto trace, as a line drawing
7. transfer drawing to water colour paper
8. paint the pictures, finding a colour pallet that worked
9. repaint paintings that don’t fit the series.
10. draw in ink over painting.

As you can see I didnt start painting to step 8. And this sort of drove me crazy.

I don’t know, but I am thinking this is pretty standard process for illustrators, but for me, it was very confining, and by the time I started painting, I had to spend a lot of effort loosening up again, to really enjoy the process.

though, there is no doubt all that drawing is good for me. But it hurts my brain.

So, for this project, I wan to start with the painting. I have a theme, and some general ideas. I have a little story to follow, and some image ideas, and then I want to let the paint and the process take me somewhere.

This book is about the devotional gathering we have weekly, as told through the eyes of my four-year old. This gathering is the highlight of his week. The love of his life-( his little female friend), attends regularly with her family, who also live in our condominium complex. It is a sweet little evening complete with tired children, who are often too excited and hyper to sit and pray. But it is lovely. I especially love the lighting of the candles process.

Anyways, this painting series focuses on our little complex, and the story of these children, coming together to pray, to think about unity, to make our little contribution to the world.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 2:09 pm and is filed under "FROM THE STUDIO". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.