Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Lavender Sketchbook - A few More Faeries


A bit more drawing for the Lavender Blue book cover. My usual practice when working out a design for a cover is to draw many of the elements separately on loose paper and then trace them into place on a piece of translucent layout paper or with a light box. I do this because it allows me to draw freely and assemble without tightening up in order to make everything fit properly. Also, assembling in this way brings a slightly random aspect into your composition as items drawn separately are combined and made to work together. I first started doing this many years ago in animation school where all your drawing is done on a light table. It was such a great way to compose a layout that I never really found a better way to put a picture together. This process will not work for everyone but I find it quite helpful.

9 comments:

Craig Phillips said...

I love your sketchbook pages Larry

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Larry, your sketches continue to enchant and amaze. Absolutely wonderful.

I use the same technique for layout sketches, except now all the elements are scanned into photoshop layers. They can be instantly resized, flopped, and altered—all while in a transparent state. There is great room for 'happy accidents'.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a glimpse inside your process. These are lovely as always!

Oya's Daughter said...

Wow, I never would have thought of that. I have Photo Studio and I imagine that might be useful actually; never would have occurred to me that illustrations wouldn't all be assembled and done all at once.

Larry MacDougall said...

Thanks Craig :)

Larry MacDougall said...

Thanks Thomas - I'm still pretty old school when it comes to piecing a picture together. I really ought to update my approach.

Larry MacDougall said...

O.D. and I.H. - thanks guys :)

coastalcutie2000 said...

I am a convert! What can I say? I love your work!

Larry MacDougall said...

P.C.M. - thanks so much :)