Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Memories of Summer


So I finally got my act together and decided this would be a good picture to talk about. First thing, the variety of colors is pretty narrow. I actually only used 9 colors total. The reason I did this is because I wanted to show that you can do a lot with only a few colors. Notice I used the some two colors in her tank top as the water in the background. Same goes for her hair and the sandy beach. But let's review what materials were used.
The paper I used is from a Speedball Bienfang "Take me Along" Sketchbook. Not the best paper ever, and the colors bleed quite a bit.

Pencil I used is a Papermate Clickster with Pentel HB  (.5  mm)  lead. Cheap pencil, but works for me because refilling is very easy.

The fine liner I used to ink was a Copic Multiliner (.3 mm) and I signed the picture with a Sharpie pen.

I used 9 Prismacolor Premier duel-ended markers. Color numbers and named below.
Alright, that's all the materials. The colors I used were:
Eyes: 124 Lime Peel, 25 Spring Green, 167 Apple Green
Skin- 12 Light Peach, 133 Deco Pink
Hair- 18 Yellow Ochre, 69 Goldenrod
Top- 48 Light Cerulean Blue, 39 True Blue
Shorts- 124 Lime Peel, 25 Spring Green

To achieve the intense shading that you see in the picture, I mostly layered the same color on top of itself, waiting a few seconds in between each layer. Then after a few layers I'll add a hint of the secondary color, then quickly blend it out again with my first, lighter color. I keep doing this until I'm happy with the way it turns out. But before I do this, I always choose my light source's direction. For this particular piece the light source is center, so the shading is on the sides. The only area of the picture that I didn't want to have smooth shading was the sand, so you'll see that I just splotched the color across the sand.
For this particular drawing I chose colors that weren't very loud or bold. I wanted to keep the picture relaxing to look at. The blues and greens I chose were to reflect on the ocean scenery in the background and her sandy hair highlights the ground. 

Not really much else to say, so I guess that's all.

4 comments:

  1. Great post! Very informative, and I love all the photos and explanations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. libby...your drawings are so good! How do you draw like that and make the colors so even??? Have fun in Disney world:) (lol...I read it on Deviant art...What world are you going to?)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Issie! The markers I used are very good quality, that makes the colors even! And thanks! Haha I actually was there a few months ago.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your welcome:) Oh, yeah...what brand are they? Sorry!:)lol...I just now saw it on your deviant art:P

    ReplyDelete