Hello again. I know it’s been a little while since my last post, but I’m here now. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to talk about for this one, then it came to me. My last post was about my working process and the steps I go through when creating a piece. I thought why not just expand on that last post and explore each step. So, this post and the next 4 post will examine my creative process. With that being said let’s get started.

Brainstorming

Of course, the first step every artist takes is coming up with an idea. Sometimes the idea is just inspiration not really anything you have to think about. For me I usually get ideas from comics, animation, tv/movies, dreams and nightmares. I may not even know what I want create just that I have an idea and I need to illustrate something based around the inspiration I just got and trying to figure out what I want to do. I also am thinking about what I am trying to convey. I like for my work to have a story, although it may not always be obvious to the viewer. The idea for the project that I am currently working on came after seeing one of Frank Frazetta’s famous, “Death Dealer” illustrations.

Now, I can think about the story I want to show. I want this piece to be dark, ominous and moody. The main focal point is the figure and I envision him enjoying the misery he brings. I also want this to be very detailed too, no abstraction. Once I have the story worked out and a general idea of what I want to illustrate I move on to trying to decide if this piece should be mixed media, traditional tonal, graphic design or a combination. This can take me some time to decide, because I want to explore what is the best method of transferring what’s in my head to the page. I finally decided that I will illustrate this new piece with a combination of color and traditional tonal media. With all the brainstorming done it’s time to go on to thumbnailing. Now keep in mind that just because I’m done brainstorming doesn’t mean I’m done thinking about the piece. I am always thinking through the work, because I can change anything on the fly. Up next, thumbnails.

Before I go, I wanted to shout out a great artist by the name of, Kelly Wagner. Kelly is an awesome artist who uses Adobe Illustrator to create her incredible work. I have seen a lot of artists use Illustrator, myself included, but I have not seen anyone use it so well to make art. Be certain to visit her site at http://kellywagnerdesign.com. I also posted a link in the “Useful Links” portion of my site.

Well, that’s it for now so until next time…

Always

Be

Creating