I’ve been working on a graphic novel over the past few months. Early on I chose to stick to a few pixel art style brushes. Brushes with hard edges and a fairly dynamic size pressure sensitivity. Even on a largish canvas size these brushes make fine detailing very difficult. That’s good and bad. In general it’s easy to get stalled out fiddling with tiny details but with these brushes its damned near impossible. In art school I was taught to paint ‘broad to specific’. Some teachers even went as far as making us use an almost comically large brush. “You can get all the detail you need with that”. And that’s the mindset I’ve been trying to keep along this months long process. Partly because I have about forty pages to finish and partly to help keep a consistent style throughout the book. If I can simplify the process by coming up with a formula or style guide then I have a greater chance to actually finish the book.
Each panel starts with a very quick sketch and then moves to what I think of as flat lighting. It’s strictly texture and contour. Lots of mark making, crosshatching and very few outlining of shapes. I am mainly using black and white and instead of erasing I will paint with the opposite color. When the flat lighting is done I switch to various splatter style brushes to really sell the contour and create depth. With this technique I can achieve an illusion of detail that I don’t think I could achieve if I were to attempt to directly draw them.
In the above image you can see a sample of before and after the flat lighting/depth shading. And the image below is a couple of panels from the book.
Its been a challenge to keep a consistent look throughout the book. Often have had to leave a number of panels in the sketch phase until I can establish some design element and jump around to work on later pages in order to solidify a particular character or setting. Then return to earlier pages and figure out how to simplify a design depending on whether its in a close up, middle ground, or wide shot.
Overall it’s been an enjoyable process. I’ve learned a great deal in a fairly short amount of time. I’ll be relieved when its finished and excited for whatever my next project will be.
– Famished Ghoul –