Illustration
Tweed Museum of Art Student Gallery Wall Mural 2020
Inktober 2019 - Present
Environmental Design
Background Process
My process starts with a series of thumbnail sketches. For this specific example, I've only included this one on the left because I think it communicates what my process is in the most effective way. Typically though, I'll sketch out two or three fast compositions to play around with placement and flow in my pieces.
Value and composition are my biggest focuses at this point.
After nailing down my composition, I work on my pieces in layers. When working digitally, I tend to start with the middle-ground. As a natural focal area, I want to make sure it's as clean as possible and lends depth and complexity to the image.
In this piece, I used atmospheric perspective to create that complexity; the trees that are meant to appear closer to the viewer are darker in value than the trees that are slightly farther away.
Next, I work on background details. If I'm asked to do a piece in physical media (such as paint or graphite) this is the layer I would start on. Digitally, this is usually my second step because I can adjust my composition based on the focal point I already established.
This piece needed two layers of background--one that was all detail and one that was just color.
Finally, I work on the foreground. At this point in any piece, I'm looking at things like color harmony and any adjustments I need to make to improve the overall impact. This is largely a detail and final check phase for me.
And I'll wind up with something like this!
