Coloring Book Process- Digital Ink

The final step for finishing a coloring page is to scan the pencil draft and basically trace over it with solid black lines on the computer. The first few pages I made for this project were finished with Micron ink pens, but I found it frustrating to not have the option of editing previous pages as I moved along. The editability provided by the digital tablet really helps in going back and making changes to make a more cohesive body of work. 

I use a Wacom Intuos 5 (the large size helps in creating more gestural drawings) with my disappointing HP laptop. I hope to replace my computer soon with either a nice big iMac or a Macbook Pro with an additional monitor. I definitely feel the limitations of my puny 13" screen, especially when I have multiple tabs open for image research on Chrome and all the Photoshop palettes and layers to switch between.

I'm still using Photoshop CS3, which seems to work fine for the relatively simple tasks I use it for. I'm hesitant to make the switch to the subscription-based Creative Cloud, just because I don't feel ready to pay $20 a month to basically rent software. 

If you look closely at the image below, you can see the pencil draft underneath the dark black lines. The main goal in the final step is to clarify my pencil draft and to add crosshatch and texture to give shape and detail to my figures. I do miss the feel of working with real ink on paper, but can't say I want to go back to constantly redrawing my pages just to correct a few stray marks.

Coloring Book Process- Pencil Draft

I finish all my coloring pages with my digital drawing tablet, but I prefer to get a solid rough draft done with pencil on paper. I use a 9x12" (slightly larger than the published size) smooth bristol paper, which holds up to a good deal of erasing and reworking and can take ink reasonably well if I decide to draw with pen for extra clarifications.

I begin by referencing my thumbnails to lay out a basic composition of the page. Later, I reference my creature design sketches and notes to slowly refine each detail of the drawing. It's always better to work every aspect of the page bit-by-bit instead of completing the subjects one-by-one. 

Each of the frames in this little animation are scans I took every 15 or 20 minutes. I know that I'm finished with the pencil draft when each area of the page has been at least vaguely established, but by no means a polished product. In my next post I'll share my process for finishing the page on the computer, and it will be apparent then just how much even a relatively complete pencil draft can change in the final step.

Coloring Book Process- Composition / Layout

Once I've arrived at a creature design that I'm happy with, I do a series of very rough thumbnails that give a basic sense of setting and provide a layout of the page.

With the Hogzilla page (basically a massive hybrid between a feral pig and wild boar) the goal is to make him look large in comparison with his surroundings. I really want to convey the sense that this creature lives a sedentary life, so I want to minimize any motion in the image. Because of this, the pose is fairly straight forward- just a massive pig standing in the forest. My challenges here are mainly drawing the forest differently than all the other pages that take place in similar environments, and to making the image dynamic without relying on action. 

I'll get technical now with some crudely drawn football-play style arrows over my art:

I liked this thumbnail the best, so now I'll explain why. The pig is separated by the background due to the upward motion implied by the far-off tree trunks. He's also framed by the horizon line and the bouncy line made by the foreground honeysuckle bush. These lines will act to trap the viewer's eye in the center of the image. Additionally, the facial details will initially pop out just because we're always looking for eye contact.

Since that's a relatively simple composition, I'll show how the same principles work with a more dynamic page: The Skunk Ape.

This guy lives in a very chaotic environment. Swamps are known for their impenetrability and pervasive vegetation, so it was a challenge to make sure the main subject stood out. Starting from the bottom of the image, the half-submerged branch and duckweed point the eye right toward the ape. The shore in the background achieves the same result. Finally, the large tree trunks in the background work as a border for the focal point of the image.

In the end, it's all about making sure the main subject pops out at first glance, even in cases when the background has a lot going on. Next week I'll share a timelapse of my Hogzilla pencil draft being completed.

Coloring Book Process- Creature Design

I've been busy with summer travels and moving to a new house across town, so I haven't been able to churn out the coloring pages like I was earlier in summer. I thought I'd use the slowdown as a chance to show my creative process for making a coloring page.

I begin each page in my sketchbook, where I take notes on my research and begin sketching out the look I'm going for. The goal is to become familiar with the anatomy of the monster and to create a look that gives clues as to the scientific / evolutionary rationalization for their existence. My guiding principle in designing each cryptid is to steer legends based on magic and myth into the realm of science and logic.  This step is the most exciting and also the most intimidating, as each beginning requires me to learn to draw a new set of anatomy and come up with a unique approach to what are often very well-known legends.

These drawings are very rough, as I almost never erase a sketch if I don't like how it turned out. I feel it's more important to see what DOES work along side what DOESN'T to arrive at a more refined final product. It's a bad habit, but I often move on from this step before it's finished, which just creates headaches as I work on the final draft without a solid foundation for the pose and anatomy of the creature.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Mini Edition

Troy (of youwithrhinestones.com) and I just got done running off a 12 page edition of my coloring book.
Gotta say how exciting it is to see my work finally in book-form and to be so close to completion on this project. The full version will have 26 pages and likely be finished in mid-August.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book Cover and Logo Designs

Ventured into some design work today and came up with a cover and logo that I'm pretty happy with. I'll be printing a shortened version of the book with 12 cryptids to sell at ZaPow's Artist Demo Day, where I'll be working on inking a coloring page on my tablet & PC. Starting to get really jazzed about this project now that I've got a decent handle on how I'm laying out the pages and making my artwork into a physical product.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Man Eating Plants

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Sea Serpent / Caddy

Cadborosaurus willsi or Caddy is the name given to some unusual remains found in the stomach of a Sperm Whale in the 1930's. The elongated corpse is often connected with old myths of massive sea serpents inhabiting the open ocean. 

If this looks familiar, it's because I basically ripped off my earlier Adrift ink painting to save some time. Why reinvent the wheel?

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Ozark Howler

The Ozark Howler: a bear-sized cat that roams the bluffs and waterways of Arkansas and Missouri.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Dover Demon

Back on the horse with my coloring book! Hoping to use my summer months to conquer this project and minimize the distractions of recreating and other art ideas.

The Dover Demon is a creature that was spotted on 3 occasions around Dover, MA. It's description is difficult to match to any terrestrial animal, therefore it's often thought of as an alien. This is by far the strangest creature I've depicted so far, and likely the furthest from scientific reality I'm willing to venture. 

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Kraken (finished)

Personal submersible. 

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Mongolian Death Worm

The Mongolian Death Worm- a 3 meter-long arthropod living in the high steppes and deserts of Central Asia. 

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Chupacabra (again)

I originally planned to redesign the creature, thinking the original to be too cartoony and wolf-like. After sketching some alternatives, I just couldn't come up with a better design or composition. I decided that some minor anatomical tweaks and a new background would bring the original one up to par with my more recent cryptid pages.

Here's a link to the original drawing. Funny, but somehow I only gave this guy 3 legs at first. 

----> http://jakelagory.blogspot.com/2012/09/cryptozoology-coloring-book-chupacabra.html

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Skunk Ape

The Skunk Ape, or Bigfoot of the South. This creature is sparsely populated in the swamps of the Southeastern United States. It is said to have an especially pernicious stench, believed to be an adaptation to fend off the region's numerous biting insects.

Scanned a pencil drawing and inked it in Photoshop.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Kraken

Still working on some options for the background and prey, but here's my take on the mythic Kraken. 

The big news here is my newest studio upgrade! I got my Wacom drawing tablet in the mail last week and have been putting it to use "inking" my Kraken drawing. It's taken some time to get used to the idea of drawing on a surface and looking on a screen for the result, but overall I think it will make these drawings go a lot quicker. When it comes time to publish, having the files already digital and more easily editable will save some headaches. 

The downside is that using the new medium will require some changes to my illustration techniques, so it may be a while before I'm posting pieces that are truly finished. Overall, I'm really excited for the opportunities this will open up.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Preview thumbnails

Back on track with the coloring book. My steampunk drawing took a lot longer than I planned/hoped, but here's a series of thumbnail sketches for the Cryptids I'm working on through the end of February.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Bigfoot Redux

Good news: I can feel my confidence with simple ink drawings increasing with every Cryptid page I make. The drawback to this is as I progress through the book, some of the earlier pages just don’t fit with the style of the newer pages. In this case, the Bigfoot (the second page I finished) just felt too cartoony.

 You can check out the older version here.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Jersey Devil

My first drawing of 2013. I’m excited to be back on schedule after travelling back to Chicago for the holidays. I hope to crank the rest of these out and have a finished book sometime in Spring. A lot of drawings of this creature show it with goat features, but I decided to reimagine it as a giant bat about the size of an eagle, capable of perching like a bird and walking on its hind legs. The possum in the foreground is meant to give scale to the devils.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Printable PDF

Here's an updated pdf file featuring higher resolution images of the first 9 cryptids for my coloring book project.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4557310/cryptozoology.pdf

The images are quite large, so it may take a while to download.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Roc

This one's more based in fantasy than most, but I loved the idea of a giant eagle living high up in the mountains of central asia, sort of a hold over from when other megafauna lived on Earth. 

I'm pleased with how the bird and goat turned out, but feel ambivalent on the background and tilted perspective. Just wanted to post it and put some time and distance between it before I decide whether or not  to redraw the mountains and sky.