Tuesday 12 April 2011

Process- Nature Girl

Today I thought I'd share another peak into how I put images together. I use photoshop for image making far more than I ever thought I would. I still prefer a totally handmade image but you can't argue with the the efficiency of working digitally, especially when you're on a tight schedule! 
This is a companion piece to the Nature Boy image I did for Toska (which i also coloured to make a print) that I put together last night for a group exhibition at Edinburgh College of Art. I started out with the pencil drawing you can see above. And then.....


This is pretty much my entire process in eight steps. After editing the image so that it was neat and tidy I coloured each section and then added the flower layer as separate line drawing. After that hid all the other layers except the flowers to focus on colouring them with no distraction. Once this was done I decided it was far too dense with the purple top behind it so I switched to a light spring-y colour with some floral textile pattern on top of it for added interest. Once I'd finished I realised I'd forgotten the birds (which also feature in Nature Boy so I felt I needed them so that they'd match) so had to hastily chuck those on top! And voila!



I'm no photoshop expert by any means. I mostly make it up as I go along and I'm sure there are far easier ways to do things! But I think its interesting to see how other people work (I really enjoy watching Jez use photoshop or illustrator...its really hypnotic and relaxing). It might kill the mystery of the image a bit but working out the jigsaw is pretty fun!

8 comments:

mmm said...

I was always curious how you pull your illustrations together. And it doesn't remove the mystery at all. It makes me want to try out more digital art with Photoshop. You should post more "process" entries! I think they're interesting and I've always loved to see how artists work. I love your choice of the springy green behind the flowers:) Again, another lovely image you've created! x

Rebekah Leigh said...

Really interesting! Thank you for sharing,I always thought your work was entirely hand done!It nice to know you can use photoshop and not lose that hand made look.

LittleCanoe said...

This turned out beautifully. I've never really mastered photoshop. I would like to crack the mystery someday, but until then, it's watercolors all the way.

Marloes de Vries said...

So great to see your process! I work the exact same way. I had a periode where I only used pencil and watercolors, then I went through a phase of only digital and now I mixed them, in the same way you do!
Thanks for this post!

Helena Perez Garcia said...

Thanks so much for sharing your work process with us! It's very interesting to get to know the personal way each illustrator work. Photoshop is a great tool to make the process easier, I love how you mix it with pencil. And your illustrations as great as always :)

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed reading about your process! I'm fascinated at how you mix a sketch with photoshop. Your work is beautiful :o)!

Sandy said...

great post, loved how youd did this.

jennifer said...

it's great to see process.. i use illustrator and photoshop too, mixed with drawings, it's fantastic how differently people use the tools. I love your drawings! Beautiful!