Tuesday 12 April 2011

Poop Poop !





A bit behind on posting but here's a sneak peak at my process and contribution to the a little bit bunny blog. The topic this month is toad so I naturally couldn't resist having a crack at one of my favourite characters from one of my very favourite books!

I'm really enjoying approaching illustrations from a screen printed mix of limited colours approach. I'm also drawing my stuff with just the 3 colour layers in photoshop. It can slow things down a little but it helps to make you think about your choices. It's a great way to free up my colour thinking a little and fly by the seat of my pants more. I think the best aspect is that a limited palette of (in this case 3) colours, either against white or overlayed over each other to give darker hues, really confines your choices on how to approach the illustration. Sometimes too much choice makes me dither and fiddle with things so having a tightly defined palette as a framework on which to build forces me to try and make something look balanced and exciting with fewer components. Make the best of what you have.

And yes, the close up detail I've shown here really does show that Mr. Toad's scarf is missing a bit. I was desperate to have him in silk scarf and flying goggles but I didn't want the scarf bisecting his body. Heck, I'm playing my artistic license card on this one. It's like that because it just is! Poop Poop to all :-)

Thursday 7 April 2011

glass half full...


Just a positive thought based on a little doodle. Also harks back to an old post of mine...

Dodo by night...





Truth be told I've probably been putting off posting images of my Dodo screen print from last weeks introductory workshop. I screwed up on my colour mixing for the background grey and the foreground greens (why did I end up going so dark for the grey and too light on the green... I'm still not sure...call it a moment of chroma madness...) and my registration of the screens was always a little off, no matter how I wrestled with it. Sill, in line with the positive attitude I'm determined to keep from here on in the day was all about learning and I really did get a great overview on things. I just love the screen printing process and hope to do more as soon as possible. I also cannot recommend enough the excellent folks at Snap studio in Bristol. If you get the chance to, you must stop by and buy. The print work they sell is absolutely fantastic! Many thanks in particular go to the hardworking and inspirational screenprinting wonder that is Emma Peacock who showed us all the ropes on the workshop.