Monday, November 24, 2014

Adding details with multiliners

Coloring a Bug
A few weeks ago I had a chance to color a few projects, one of which was the Medusa which I already showed you. The other project I finished was this giant Green Nymph Stick Insect illustration I drew.

The real bug belongs to someone here in our offices, and as soon as he showed it to me, I told him I wanted to draw it. (This post is getting an advanced label because of all the colors and details I drew in.)

I started by looking at the original photo and drawing it in pencil, then inking over it with a 0.1 mm multiliner. Then I photocopied the outline onto our nice, Sketchbook paper (full sheets that are not bound in a book are from our new Art Paper Pack).


The photograph is pretty dull, and I figured  it wouldn't hurt to brighten up the colors a bit, so I chose to color it with a base of YG01. Then, I layered on YG03 and YG61, looking at the color placement on the photograph. However, the photo looks like a dry, dead bug, and I wanted this bug to look a bit more alive, so I rounded my blending a bit more to make it look less flat.

To dull the colors slightly I added whisks of YG91, and deepened shadows with G94, G17, and G28. To really darken shadow areas, I pulled in E49 in the darkest shadow areas.

You'll notice the bottom wings are a slightly different color. I colored those wings with a base of E70 and hints of E74.  I smoothed it out with E21, and added the lighter greens to the wingtips.


The darker, orange/browns you see in the veins and on the little spikey bits, I colored with YR27.To make the wings look a bit more transparent, I used the colorless blender to fade them out, and wash out the colors a bit.

Then, although it doesn't show up as well in the original photo, I wanted the wings to look even more transparent, so I lightly drew in where the legs would be, if they were visible. I kept these colors lighter than the greens I used on the legs, and I made the edges soft so it really looks like they are peeking through the wings.

At this point, I really like how the bug is coming along.  To keep my colors consistent on the legs, I colored each pair individually, instead of coloring all 6 legs at the same time.

In the photo, the two large back legs have a totally different tonal quality, but I chose to color them more balanced, just changing the lighting on each leg slightly. Then they match better.

Here is a photo of the stack of colors I used for coloring the bug. Because I drew the bug so large, I have plenty of room to use all these beautiful colors. I love having lots of room for tiny details!

Adding detail with a gray multiliner
The last detail that I really wanted to work in were the beautiful veins on each wing. I didn't want to draw them in with a black pen, as that would have overwhelmed the drawing. But, I also needed to draw them in something that wouldn't run, should I decide later to add more marker details. That ruled out colored pencils. So, I worked with one of our new Warm Gray multiliners.

You can see in this close up how detailed I can get with the 0.1mm Warm gray. I love it! It doesn't overwhelm the colors underneath, merely accents it. On the top wings, where I colored it the lightest, I added fewer veins, I more gave it the suggestion of veins. This heightens the feel of a highlight.


Here is the final bug, complete with Opaque White highlights added to the wings for details (Opaque white with the super-fine brush). I hope you enjoyed this illustration process and got some ideas for your own work.

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving Week!






10 comments:

  1. Your bug is really awesome. Now all you need are those cast shadows to make it look like it is sitting on your paper!

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  2. Cool Bug!! I am curious.From the picture of your work, why do you have different colors of tape on your markers?

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  3. Oh WOW...I wish I could do that!!!!

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  4. Much better than the photo, AWESOME Marianne!Saw an art student in Art Dept. in Salem yesterday and he was going to buy cheap alcohol markers to play with then get the Copics...NO! says I...buy Copics now, etc. Told him about your class at Main Street in Jan. 2015...hope to see him there! You are a wonderful teacher!!!
    Have a blessed Thanksgiving,
    Jan

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  5. Barb, the markers are our demo markers that we have kicking around the warehouse, so they are marked with tape to remind me that they belong to us.

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