Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #4-part 1

My version:

The Artist's original


Masamune Shirow Day 1:
My original intent was to just focus on the linework, but fueled with excitment upon getting an article of his translated by a great friend, I decided to do the whole thing (though I will not be doing the background since I do not have an airbrush). I am doing this 100% traditional as you will soon see....


Artist: Masamune Shirow
Year: 1988
Source: Anywhere and everywhere all over the internet (like alot of Masamune's work...though his work tends to be questionable in content.)



Process:

1. Prepare: As you can see above, even though I am copying a picture I created thumbnails. I did that and exploratory sketches to better understand the composition and what to expect or prepare for. I discovered what was best was to break the characters down into general shapes, and then to start adding more and more detail. Considering this picture has ALOT of intricate details, I had to be careful since I could easily get lost looking at a tree, and get frustrated as the rest of the forest might not fit in the picture.
2. The sketch: Next I start the sketch at the final size. TO save time I drew a light grid on my page and drew corresponding dots on the border of the printed master. From there I start general and light. As I increase in detail I also increase how hard I press the pencil against the paper. To start off i section the page off with angle-connecting lines, it was neat to see because some of them even connected at the several strategic points most likely set by the original artist. Eventually I try to get a few lines that are 95% absolutely correct so I can try to base other lines off of them and with that I start blocking the characters in utilizing general shapes. continue to sketch, sketch sketch.
   
3. The sketch part 2: My original plan was to do all the sketching on one piece of paper, but because there was so many details and my paper was already pretty saturated with color, I ran a quick outline of blue, then utilizing my light-table traced it onto a new piece of paper. After that I did the rest of my sketches on it. I outlined the colored pencil with a 4B pencil.
   
4. The inked lines: Next i take my completed sketch, tape it to the back side of a sheet of Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper, trace the lines on the watercolor paper with a 4H pencil utilizing the light from my light-table. Finally I go back to my desk and begin to ink utilizing a pen and nib. (I am at a disadvantage with nibs, since I have not used them much, but I supposed this is one of the things I wanted to learn from this artist.) Once done erase the lines.

Problems:

• Either Masamune used a higher weight of paper, or a different one alltogether, because the ink did not exactly flow onto the paper as it did in the picture. It turned out fine, but I think the paper he used was a bit more slick.
• When I was inking the lines I found myself stuttering the lines, and I discovered that this was due to me trying to be too careful by following his picture (which because almost every line is intragal I basically had to do it). So because I wasn't responding to the medium correctly the ink didn't get applied correctly. Once I got to the more broad sweeping lines on the girl in the front, it got easier to stroke it instinctively, not just reacting to his picture.

Tomorrow I am going to color it. i already did a color test run and thought he utilized acrylic washes, but it turned out too passive. Remembering something I read that he used to use oil as well as acrylic, I broke out my waterbased oils, did a test run with them and found instant satisfaction. Wish me luck. O_o