Tag Archives: Digital Color

Leah the Mystic for Illustration Friday

Leah the Mystic, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic ATC multiplied and adjusted in paint.NET

Leah the Mystic is another denizen of the Many Wonders Woods. Nobody is quite sure where she lives or what she knows, but if you happen to see her wandering the shadowed pathways, follow along for a little while. She might tell you a secret. She is also Maiden Number 20.

For “Identical” at Illustration Friday. The original is the image in the top left, and the rest were created in paint.NET using the hue and saturation sliders. I used a lot of different colors which make the changes more distinct.

I know opinions may be mixed but it does feel like cheating, and perhaps for IF it is a bit! Completely changing the colors with the touch of a button. And it turns out, despite my love of bright colors, it is the lower saturation settings (the bottom right) that I like a bit more than the original. So, I need to figure out how to achieve those subtler colors, which remind me of an Art Nouveau palette.

Blue Horses, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic Markers, fine liners, white gel pen.

Leah is also a friend to the Blue Horses. Born lavender, the Blue Horses turn blue by the time they are two. The lavender helps them blend with the purple undergrowth in the Wonder Woods, and the blue helps camouflage the adults among the Blue Willows.

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Elephant Shrew Urn Artifact for Monday Artday

Copic Markers and Multiliners, on Canson 150 lb. Fanboy Paper, with digital background and text added at the end.

The topic is Ancient Artifact at Monday Artday. To me that meant: 1. something decorative, and 2. with animals. I wanted to actually limit the color palette (rather than intend to and not do it), and also see if I could avoid my usual thick black outlines. And now, a super neat progress slideshow (my second!):

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Row one:  1. Boring urn with fancy handles; 2. a hare (they are cool!), and then something with a long nose for a handle (sort of) – elephant shrew?; 3. better elephant shrew is also GIANT elephant shrew. 4. replace lid with something simple (ugh lots of eraser marks – I really should try to keep a lighter touch). 5. Another different top. Needed stuff coming out. Boyfriend came by to ask why I put a bunch of tiny legs in there! I guess I was thinking sticks. 6. Inked in red ink because I decided to go with  browns and reds.

Row two: 7. Masquepen stage on body of urn; 8. Ooh, golden browns, how I love them. Am I a pro at shading? Not by a long shot, but doing ok. 9. Brown pen outline. I thought about stopping right here. Really! 10. I was worried about adding the red because I was liking just the browns, but I like the way the red contributed. Also went back over the outlines with a very tiny black multiliner – 0.03. 11. Needed some more design on the main part of the urn. 12. Swirly bits – hooray! Adds a bit of depth.

Row three: 13. This is what the actual page looks like, all Copics (and a couple Micron pens). I did a very pale swirl on the rabbit and tried yellow on the shrew but you can barely see it (which is fine). 14. Digital background in vibrant blue, the color I was going to do with Copics (but at the last moment I decided against using all the marker it would have needed); 15. Slightly mysterious (?) black with pinkish clouds. I wanted to do something dark and “serious” and add a kind of museum tag to the bottom. 16. The end!

Thanks to everyone for the insanely nice comments lately. So thrilled people like to look at these things. ;)

A Flock of Misfits for Illustration Friday

Flock of Misfits, Copic Markers with Digital Help

She worries over them all, her adopted family. Sometimes they stay just a little while. Some, like Vicente the sleepy fellow to her right (and her common law spouse), have been together since the beginning. Some say Mariella is the oldest bird living. Others say she is immortal. Only one thing is certain: she’ll never tell.

The topic is “Return” for Illustration Friday. I like the idea of a misfit family of birds, though I am not happy with the execution. You’ll see in the progress pics below that the original background had a friskety swirl like many of my recent entries. But the color was too close in tone to the birds, and though I started to darken it, I kept smudging the black ink so I decided to repair the background by replacing it with some digital clouds (one of my few Paint.NET skills!)

And here’s how it went:

Flock of Misfits Sketch

Flock of Misfits Frisket

Flock of Misfits Color 2

Flock of Misfits Color 3

Flock of Misfits for IF Return

Flock of Misfits with Digital Background

I think I have decided I like my illustrations best where I’ve referenced a photo, even if I only use it for the initial sketch. Though I like many of these silly birds, the tallest one didn’t work out quite right and some of the others might have benefited from just a bit of photographic inspiration. Live and learn and all that!

[On the off chance some of you wonder their names: Top row: Jodi, Podi, Bodi, Kodi (sometimes grumpy). Branch 2: Moppet (sometimes ornery), Braenwyn, Quoc, Afri (top), Bobek. Bottom left: Mariella, Vicente, Radhika (the sweet Auntie, everyone’s favorite), Deva. Right branch: Tiki, Fatima.] The font is Gisha.

Thank you as always for visiting! Brutal critiques (within reason) welcome!

 

Denizens of the Deep

Denizens of the Deep

Yet another Doodle challenge entry, this time “Mermaids”.  A bit of a departure for me.  I am mostly satisfied with it, although next time perhaps I will be brave and show a humanoid face.   I did try a couple times, but the poor creature kept complaining about her recent trip to the dermatologist.  Something about a healing chemical peel.  And you thought mermaids had no need for such things, didn’tya?

Hand drawn with Micron pens on Bristol board, then corrected and colored digitally.

A Tricky Place at Night

A Tricky Place at Night

This strange scene comes courtesy of Doodle challenge #2, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”  I’m not entirely sure about the good or the evil.  Though it’s true the flowers do have convenient smiley faces.  And the carnivorous plants have sharp teeth.  But looks can be deceiving, and all that.

Birds on a Branch. With a Dog.

More thrilling digital color combinations (undoubtedly less thrilling for some of you).  This week featuring a (mostly) monochromatic extravaganza (in green).  Lots of parentheses as well.

Three on a Branch

Elsie (the dog) and Maude (on the right) waited for Blossom to wake up.  They stared in a longing manner in the hope that the combined power of their penetrating gazes would rouse her from her overlong nap.  Maude rested her beak on the top of Elsie’s head which wasn’t particularly helpful but Maude enjoyed it and Elsie tolerated it.

Poking Blossom was out of the question.  The one time they poked Blossom awake she refused to pick up the story where she had left off.  It was a good story too, something about an anteater and a tin of sardines.  (It was Elsie who poked her, if you must know.  Elsie is not as patient as a bird, but she is working on it.)  No, they would have to wait until Blossom woke up in her own good time.

Three on a Branch, Night

Sometimes she slept straight through the day.  Although it looks like Elsie and Maude have been waiting FOREVER, in fact they have just returned to their previous positions after a long and satisfying romp in the forest.   Maude has figured out, mostly, which days Blossom’s nap will be particularly long.

Three on a Branch, In Greens

Bird & Bee

Flight of the Bumblebee

This silliness is the response to an online doodle challenge called, surprisingly enough, “Flight of the Bumblebee.”  I was going to put the bee on a plane, or possibly stuck in a long line at the airport, but ended up with this pair.

The bee did consider an airplane, but last time all he got for his trouble was a long layover and a terrible stomach ache from too much Cinnabon.  Besides, he does like the wind in his antennae.

Are you a doodler with an Etsy shop?  If so, you could join in on the fun here.

Rawr 2.1

Dimple and Mort in Slumberland

The other dogs cautioned Mort not to go, but they knew it wouldn’t do any good.  Mort had always been independent-minded.  He believed he would be able to avoid most of the enforced napping.  And since Dimple could not leave Slumberland, Mort was very determined to go.

Later he would report that the napping was quite wonderful.  He remembered meeting up with Dimple and discussing sea anemones for about an hour.  The next thing he remembered was waking up.  He was still standing up, and felt like he’d just had the best nap of his life.

The other dogs had all gathered around to hear the details.  But weren’t you worried, asked one, that a predator of some kind might have come along?  Oh no, said Mort.  Dimple said nothing escapes the sleeping events, no matter how big or small.  Besides, have you seen Dimple?  Not many would tangle with him.  They hadn’t actually seen Dimple, but they let the comment stand.

And then there were birds.

Billie & Regina Argue about Spitting

You want me to what? asked Regina, standing with her back to her sister as instructed.

Walk twenty paces, then turn and spit! said Billie.

Are we having a duel?  Really?  A spit duel?

Yes! said Billie.

You can’t, said Regina.

Can’t what?  Duel?  Sure we can duel!  It won’t hurt.

No.  Spit.  Have you ever spit at anything before?

Not exactly, said Billie.  Should we practice first?

Regina sighed.  You know you have a beak, right?  I don’t think a beak is made for spitting.

 

Olive's Niece and the Uneventful Visit

Olive was exasperated with her husband.  This habit of sleeping upside down, for one thing, always gave him a headache.  Her husband never connected the two events.  Lack of caffeine was his firm conviction vis-à-vis headache causation.

Either way, he shouldn’t be napping when their niece Gloria came to visit.  But it ran in his side of the family, the constant napping.  Gloria tried to stay awake, but she too fell asleep shortly after her arrival.  Right side up, at least.  His side of the family.

But I made cheesecake! groused Olive.  With licorice!  She huffed about for several minutes then went to check her email.

Variations on a Beast(s) Version 1.0

In an effort to track the history of my descent into madness… er, the learning curve of this whole digital coloring business, I hereby present the newest creature(s) with several color variations.  The first is the one I prefer, and will likely have a print made.  The blue one is nice.  The pink one, a mess.  Of course, people being what they are:  both amusing and infuriating, strange, unknowable and endlessly interesting in their variety – someone is bound to like the pink one most.

Maybe I should also mention I have been uploading all these myriad of creatures in 72 dpi.  If one clicks on them, they blow up quite a bit clearer and nicer.  But not so nice, one hopes, that people steal them and print them out and/or pretend they made them.  Which does assume someone will show up here and find them, *and* be a person who wants to steal and/or print them.  On the other hand, many can also be found at Etsy or deviantArt (see the links on the right side of the page)!

Two Dogs, One Beast, in Orange

The dogs had been waiting more than an hour for their guide to arrive. When she finally showed, they did not know what to make of her. Cyrus, the larger dog, was particularly suspicious. This was not a dog. Was it? Had he seen all the other kinds of dogs in the entire world? And besides, what kind of place was this? The chairs were very strange.

He decided, finally, to trust the odd beast. What choice did he have?  Luckily,  the beast turned out to be very nice – although she did not speak dog very well. Mops, the puppy, never experienced a moment of concern. He just followed Cyrus around. You know, like a puppy.

Two Dogs, One Beast, Bare

Two Dogs, One Beast, in Blue

Two Dogs, One Beast, with Pink Planets

Yeah, not sure about the planets.  First of all, they don’t actually look like planets.  If I wanted planets, I should have drawn in some planets before scanning.  They look a bit more like party balls than planets.  In any case, I do not consider the planet/party ball business a success.  I just added this one for another color comparison.