Monday, July 13, 2009

Illustration Friday - Hollow


"I guess you won't be getting me today, Mr. Cat."

"No, not today...but you'll have to come out of that tree sometime, Mr. Bird."

For Mr. Cat, a hollow tree can lead to an empty stomach.

This was the first idea that came to my mind for Illustration Friday. I wanted to tell a cute little story, and what's better than a pair of friendly foes? When I made my first sketch for it, I thought it would look nicer in black and white. I wanted to challenge myself a bit by not using color this time around. It was different trying to explore how to make lines work for me, instead of relying on coloring skills. I tried to make sure each "mass" in the picture had something different happening in terms of line direction and such. I left the cat and bird "empty" so they would stand out. When I look at it now, I think it looks like a comic strip you'd find in the newspaper. It really looks like a Sunday comic strip when you add a splash of color to it though:

For the technical stuff, I drew this on an index card, and inked it using a Staedtler pen. Some of the tiniest lines were made using a Helix .1 technical pen. The thicker lines were made by just going over the outline a second time. I noticed that the index card soaked up a bit of ink, so the lines weren't as smooth as I had wanted them to be. I guess that adds to the "Sunday newspaper comic" feel to it, though. Incidentally, the insides of a hollow tree don't tend to look like that, as I found out later on a trip to the park. They tend to look much more boring.

I had this finished on Friday, but I got a bit ill and didn't post it until now. I notice I have some new comments too, so I'll definitely get to those in the morning. It's late now, so I'm going to get some sleep.

13 comments:

  1. Beautiful! It's interesting to see with and without the colors. The colors are great, the lines are great. It does look like a comic strip.

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  2. hahahahaha Anwar this is great glad you stopped in and checked out my little diddy

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  3. oh wow!!! this is wonderful and I love that you showed us the ink and then the full colour!!!

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  4. I love the look in the eyes of the cat! He looks like he's really longing to get that bird :)

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  5. thanks muchly for your comment! so glad you liked my comic :)

    I like your cat illustrations! :3

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  6. Thanks for the comments everyone!

    Mary and Diana - The colors started out as a "what if" and turned into a pleasant surprise. It was interesting for me too! :)

    Dorit - I'm glad you liked the eyes, since that's the look I was going for. It's nice to know that it worked. :)

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  7. nice use of color and perspective and a great take on the theme. thanks for your comment on mine, i really appreciate it!

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  8. Thanks, Art Fan Ako and nina!

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  9. Thats great that you wrote down your thought process and technique! I like that you chose to keep the main characters solid and contrast it with the lines in the tree! Great job:)

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  10. Thanks Kacey! I tend to write my techniques down now so I won't forget what process I used when I look back on my stuff in the future. It's a real hassle when you look at a previous picture and you can't remember how you made it.

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