Behind the scenes - see my sketches
After seeing the results from my reader survey, it seems like more artwork and behind the scenes posts are what you’re after. Today I've decided to kill two birds with one stone and share the beginnings of all my ideas - the sketches.
Everything I create starts with a scribble, and always on paper. A small sketch, a note of an idea or a quick thumbnail is jotted down in my sketchbook, or on a scrap of paper I've found on my desk. I love working traditionally and it just seems right for me to start with a pencil in my hand. Whether or not that idea becomes digital or not, it feels natural to start on paper.
Some of my sketches end up coloured or looking almost finished. Depending on the style I’m going for, sometimes I do work straight on top of the pencil lines of the sketch. The bird print that you'll find in my shop is a great example of that – they all started with a pencil sketch, which were then coloured with coloured pencils and finished by adding in some defined outlines with a black pen.
For other projects, such as the dog stickers, it takes quite a few sketches to get it right. I’ll often draw something that I think may have the right feel, but not the refinement. So I’ll scan it in to my computer, adjust parts of it in Photoshop and then print it out, before tracing the outline back onto paper and starting the process again. It’s all trial and error, and sketches are the very first ideas, so it is rare that they’re right first time!
I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my process, and if you liked this post, let me know and I can do some more!
