Flourish and Blotts Painting Planing

I was asked how I would plan out a digital painting with lots of characters like this one:

I would not have every character as a separate layer. I would group them and most likely condense them for file size issues. An example would be I would work on Arthur and Ginny together and Ron separately but I would most likely drop them to one layer together. This would be a huge file like more then a Gig so I would start to have some computer slow down problems if I let it get too crazy.

I tried to break down how I would most likely tackle this one (after color studies). 

Each outlined character would be a separate layer or layers

1.Background 

2.Gilderoy and the Photographer

3.Percy, the Grangers and Mrs Weasley

4.Lucius and Mr. Weasley (on separate layers)

5.Ginny and Malfoy

6.Ron and Harry and Hermione

7. Then Fred and George and the rest of the Witches

After that it would be touch-ups on everything and lighting effects.

I might jump around a bit between characters if I need a break. I would make sure my layers are organized. I like to slightly adjust the figures positions and/or limbs and it becomes a nightmare if the character is on 6 separate layers all over the place.

I do still like this sketch but I am not yet ready to paint it. I think the drawing still needs to be pushed more. :)

Ghibli Studies

A couple months ago I painted a series of quick studies from Howl's Moving Castle in Casein, Watercolor and Digital to compare the pluses and minuses of the different mediums.

Casein (first example) behaves like a slightly more forgiving gouache. It dries a lot darker so everything was a lot closer to the right value when they were wet. It has a nice smooth and chalky feel and probably (with a lot more practice) could get the closest to the poster paint of the original. Colors are totally off.

Watercolor (second example) has a lot more texture and I feel much more comfortable using it then casein. It is also harder to control. The clouds came out nice with fun edges but it was really hard getting it closer to the original. I had to settle with making the clouds look cool and not enough like the original. Colors are totally off. 

Digital (third example) is the closest to the original and is the most forgiving. I could of gotten it even tighter but I wanted to keep it as a loose study. I did this one last and tried to get the cloud edges a little more painterly. Colors are the closest.

Conclusions- 

-Study-wise I need to slow down with traditional medium. I do most of my work digitally so I get a little to use to the control-z. My colors and values are off and I need to do swatches to be more accurate.

-What to bring to my professional work- I need to have some more brush strokes and texture in my digital work. I am sometimes too smooth and polished. I have already started working on that. I also need to be mindful of my edges. Sometimes I make everything too sharp.

With watercolor I just need to slow down and leave some more paper spots. I sometimes I try to be too close to my digital style and the painting gets overworked.

With Casein, I am not sure if I will do full scale illustrations with it. I like it and I will do more experiments with it but I need more practice...maybe grayscale next time. :)

Reference Picture:

Red Riding Hood Process

Here is my painting process for the Red Riding Hood illustration. I usually work this way with some variation depending on the client. I also went through a long process of getting the drawing just right but I didn't keep enough of the old sketches to show. The sketching/drawing sometimes takes the longest amount of time. I also use a bunch of wolf, tree, forest, mood and lighting, girl, and poppy reference.

I try not to get too tight with the final drawing. I don't like it when it feels like I am coloring a grayscale drawing (like coloring and black and white photo). It ends up turning out a little different then the sketch but I have more fun painting.

I also try to keep my layers organized but sometimes the last layer is a touch up everything layer.  :)

Also here are some detail shots. I am trying not to be to tight with everything and leave some brush strokes.

Red Riding Hood

Red Riding Hood for fun and to use in my portfolio.

Without Border

Grayscale Sketch

Color Sketches: Ron, and Trelawney

A couple of make-ups for Wizarding Wednesdays that I missed.

Ron and Barf Slugs, and Professor Trelawney 

Both Watercolor on paper

A Couple of Wizarding Wednesday Sketches

Patronus Practice with Harry, Lupin, and a Boggart and Sirius and Buckbeak

for Wizarding Wednesday