Late September Progress

 

Quite close to finishing, really!!!

COVER PROCESS/PROGRESS

 Hi, Readers! Here is a long overdue update! 

I've been working on cover art. The following process images are my latest efforts to figure out how I will use color to paint the cover. This is a digital experiment but I do intend to make a gouache painting for the final art. At this point, working with color in my digital paint program is better than with any real world media so that is where I have started. 

I am liking where this experiment has taken me but I still feel there is work to be done: figuring out my palette, how the lighting will be executed, and light/dark tonality.

Concurrently, I have been practicing gouache technique. That has been quite challenging. There is a lot to learn but I have commited myself to becoming proficient with gouache however long that journey might be and the cover art may have to be executed before I am very happy with my skill level. Also, I've discovered I know a lot less about color mixing than I thought I did!

Coming soon, a post or two showing gouache skills as they progress.

Thanks for stopping to look!

This is a watercolor, ink and gouache mini-painting I did many years ago.

 

 

Readability

Here's a page illustration I reworked. I changed it from the character facing to the left to facing the right which my collaborator, graphic designer Chad Kent, knew would work better. This page is on the left side of the spread and there is another image of the same character on the right side. According to Chad, and of course he's right, she should be facing herself. So, he flipped the whole image, putting the bookshelf on the right side. But flipping the image reversed all the book titles and made them unreadable which I didn't like much. Luckily, the character is on a separate layer than the background so I was able to successfully reverse her with only a little color touch-up.

Beginning Cover Art

I am now thinking about the cover. There is little else for me to do now. I have it in mind to paint the cover image with gouache, a medium which I have very little experience. Gouache was very popular for many years in advertising and illustration and is still used by some in favor of working digitally. It can be used like watercolor and also a little like acrylic but can be reactivated with water.

I am trying to incorporate in this cover illustration art deco elements, which isn't really developed in this thumbnail. Also, I have in mind a cover-less hardback with the design in two or three colors on a periwinkle ground. I may do two illos of the same composition one for the dust cover(more colors and detail) and one for the naked hardback.

Stay tuned for progress on this...

Mess Becomes Tryptich

Early in the book, we have our protagonist awoken by a startling sound. The text describes alarm, trepidation and then excitement for the mystery that fell into his lap. After an editing session, the four of us decided to cut some text and one of the 4 drawings I had done. This led us to an opportunity to combine poses/drawings into a singular image. We did this to: A) continue making condensing edits to the book and B) add another 2-page spread (which is a theme we are developing).

The text will be added around the character's instances by our talented layout artist, Chad Kent, who will be very busy completing the book when I hand in my final hour edits. Which will be soon! I'm trying for the end of the month. Who needs to relax for the holidays anyway?

Update: Detail

-A detail from latest page colored. Mom, Sis, and Gran doing some late night scheming.

Hitting My Stride (Coloring-Wise)

Here are two newly colored 2-page spreads. This book is still definitely a work in progress and subject to changes, including these spreads, but I think we are getting really close in general to having pages we like and will consider finished and ready to print.

Kudos to Chad for these new layouts. He is doing spectacular work.

(All rights reserved on the above words and pictures to Cafe Maroc, 2019)