Drawing tutorial by Julia.J

Julia.J

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
50
Location
Turku, Finland
Hey, thank you all for the warm welcome!
Newton that's one awesome frog; they always seem to have this real pleased expression- like an expression after a real good meal :)
Jeff Oh my! Better not to give any more ideas...I'm already in trouble with these new tools :shock: hehe. Thank you.

I did write this small tutorial about creating new designs; it might not work for everyone... but it's worth to experiment with. The technique is based on negative drawing; if you're unfamiliar with this type of work, there's a great article online by Mike Sibley which I highly recommend to read: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364891

In negative drawing you draw the negative space around the object to make it visible; in my version you draw the object itself or more like its shadow, which is why I call this the shadow method. This is effective because you'll be able to see the whole object without getting puzzled by detail or being horror stuck by a clean white paper. I created these images by using my trusty old drawing tablet and Painter 9 as to the reason of creating more clear image of the process, but it can be done with either black ink or pen followed by a light table and a pencil.

1) Start by inking away your subject; in my imagine I wanted something that had a tree, a fence and somesort of an animal (cat perhaps). If you're unsure of how the chosen subject looks like, there're plenty of reference photos scattered around the internet to choose from (just make sure it's ok to use). The trick here is to fill the entire subject with ink; our mind is the most powerful tool that we have- even when something is done by only using black and white, it's clear to see what we're looking at. You can start with something easy like an apple to get the idea.

2) Take your inkling to a light table. If you don't have one, natural light works just as well, meaning the use of a window...but it's harsh to your arms, so be careful. Place a clean paper on top of your image. Depending on the thickness of the paper you use or the shade of your ink (it can be watered down, if it shows up too heavily, or even in different color) the image underneath looks gray-ish.

3) This is where the fun part begins. The image underneath is your map, so you don't have to start with a white paper. Trace the outlines lightly with a pencil, you can easily make changes at this point. Once the outlines are done, you can either start filling in the detail or take the drawing back to your work space and add the necessary detail there.

Hope this made any sense :D I'm here to help if you have any questions.

Cya later,
Julia
 

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