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Saturday, April 04, 2009

A Magazine Cover in Progress

I'm having a lot of fun working on this magazine cover. Thought I'd share it with you as I go along. Here's the pencil sketch, done with the Chalk Pastel tool in Corel Painter.


Now with the sketch on a transparent layer, I begin inking in Painter with the Fine Round Gouache Brush tool. I used to use the Scratchboard Tool to mimic the sweeping lines of a sable brush and india ink, but my pal René Milot turned me on to the Fine Round Gouache Brush tool. Thanks René.


... and, for mechanical objects, the Pencil Tool in Photoshop. By "mechanical" I mean not just the boxes and bottles, but anything that needs a precise linear or circular (or elliptical) shape - like the woman's eyes, for instance.


Have to get this done this weekend - so drop by later for more! ;^)

Tuesday Morning Update:

Well, things didn't work out as planned, schedule-wise. I got - not one - but two storyboard jobs in over the weekend. But now I'm back at it!

After finishing the inks, I began flat colouring in Photoshop by using the Polygon Lasso Tool and Bucket Fills. The labels were created with a combination of Lasso and Pencil Tool. Those labels took a very long time. Most of one day, in fact.


Shading was added on a multiply layer, mostly with the Pencil Tool but I did use the Path Tool for the facial shadows.



This part's done and sent away to the client... now I'm working on the background elements... so stay tuned!

Later that evening...

Finished! Well, just about. There may still be some tweaks here and there, but this is essentially it. The background took most of the afternoon to do. Because the cover girl's final position was uncertain, I had to make sure the background art was done all the way across.

So there's a lot of little bottles and boxes on those shelves that will probably never be seen. But they had to be drawn anyway.


Our man behind the counter is going to be making a guest appearance inside the magazine as a spot illo (with some interesting modifications). I might post that later. Maybe tomorrow. For now, I still have ten little icon-type illos to do for this job!

4 comments:

ZackRock said...

That's lookin' sharp, Leif!

leifpeng said...

merci, mon ami! :^)

wentworth said...

I love the blog - and that Simon kicks a**! I'd be interested in hearing if you ever use the old fashioned pencil/ink and your thoughts on it vs. doing your drawing on computer. Is it just to save time? Does it feel like cheating?
www.dc-sketchbook.blogspot.com

leifpeng said...

wentworth;

Thanks for your kind words. :^)

Regarding your question - I don't have much of an opportunity to use real-world media any more, but I can't deny I love using a sable brush and india ink. The computer process I use doesn't feel like cheating because I still draw and ink - just on a tablet instead of with real materials. Colouring, which I used to do with an airbrush and frisket film is MUCH faster in Photoshop! I don't miss that process at all! And over all, I love the options the computer gives me to "do over" anything I'm unhappy with. frankly, for commercial art, I'd never go back. (But "never say never, right?)

;^)