GRIMM fairy tale (W.I.P.) part 2

This week is pretty busy for me, I have two deadlines hitting about the same time. So to be short I will post a couple process shots of my GRIMM fairy tale piece and tell a little more of the story.

Here is my "photo-CHOPPED" sketch (GREAT improvements made from my original sketch)

This is my final color palette.

(I made 2 color comps. 1 based on intuition. and 2. based on an an painting from the early 1800's.

I chose to go more with number 2.)

I am open for suggestions and all feedback. Thanks! (whew...making good headway...about 3 days left!)

Okay, more of the story of "King Thrushbeard." We left off last time when the king married off his daughter to the first beggar who came to the door, which happened to be a bard.

Well the bard took her to his humble home and immediately put her to work, since they were poor. She had to learn how to cook, do laundry, clean etc. This was difficult and very hard for her especially since the food wasn't very nourishing. Eventually she found herself able to help by selling pots her husband had chanced across, at a local market. Since she was a beautiful woman she sold many while her husband went on trips to earn money.

One day a reckless soldier came tearing through the market and destroyed a large number of her pots. The princess was terrified since they were already having a hard time making ends meet, and was wondering what her husband would think.

Thats all for now....story to be updated/finished at the completion of the illustration. :) haha

Pencil Illustration - GRIMM fairy tale (W.I.P.)

0.9 mm lead on 11x14 bristol board.

Once again ArtOrder (link: art order) is hosting a contest that I feel I can relate to. The topic is the nitty gritty original GRIMM fairy tales. Since I didn't want to do the cliche thing and use a story that has been overdone I had my wife point out her favorite in her Grimm anthology. My favorite story was "King Thrushbeard." I will tell more as the week progresses....but essentially a king invites many suitors over to his palace for his daughter. She laughs and mocks every single one. In frustration her father vows that he will marry her off to the first beggar who comes to the castle...it ends up being a bard. haha Imagine his surprise. Well I wont spoil the rest of the story till later. enjoy the illustration!

Well unlike my series of 5 sketch illustrations I did a few weeks ago, I knew this one was going to be made in color so I was pretty relaxed knowing that I would edit it in photoshop. Regardless of that, this IS one of the most complex pencil illustrations I've done yet...haha and I plan to do the "Limited palette method on this as well. The only catch is...there is going to be ALOT of colors...and I need to have it done in 5 days? Oh boy....haha!

I am open to suggestions and ALL feedback. ASAP.

Arrietty ~ Hayao Miyazaki movie Review

First propaganda released for Arrietty from Ghibli.

As part of a long tradition my brother pre-ordered the newest Ghibli movie, which this time was the Masterpiece Arrietty. I was anxious, but mostly due to the fact it was the next Hayao Miyazaki-involved film.

By my own tradition I also avoid propaganda, reviews and especially trailers of upcoming Ghibli movies, Arrietty was no exception. So every time I watch a Miyazaki movie I never know what to expect, and walk away with the raw sensation of what the movie was trying to communicate (not what the mis-leading trailers, and often connected personal expectations that let me down.)

I could sum up the movie in a single phrase, “EPIC quality in SMALL proportions.”

Screen capture of scene in movie.

Ultimately the movie followed the original story-line from the book, “the Borrowers,” by Mary Norton, but was given a life that only Hayao Miyazaki can give.

I've never seen such a blend of stunning background art, and hand drawn animation before, like Arrietty presented it. Unlike previous Ghibli movies, where characters occasionally brush into the background paintings, Arrietty forced the studio to delve into them.

In regards to the plot, it carries several of Miyazaki's common traits:

“a cute strong willed girl who takes control of her given circumstances” and there is “no evil, just conflict.”

Basically it is a slice-of-life movie that sets you down into the problems and concerns of people the size of your pinky. Throughout the movie you feel part of their terribly isolated world, which is lost in the haunting tangled folds of reality. The movie is filled with natural/gentle humor and delicately touches the heavy emotional side of life. In essence you half expect a cliché Disney ending where everything works out and is tied neatly in bow, but we get dropped off at another typical Miyazaki door , “life is filled with infinite tomorrows.”

Background artwork.

Surprisingly, unlike previous attempts such as with Kiki's Delivery Service and Howls moving castle, Studio Ghibli succeeded in nurturing a new director under Hayao Miyazaki's care. Although this felt like a number of Miyazaki movies, master animator and director Hayao Miyazaki stayed mostly on the planning/story side (Story boards, character designs...etc).

Miyazaki concept sketch.

This type of relationship Ghibli plans to continue in the future with more movies in order to avoid the company collapsing when Miyazaki actually retires or passes away.

Due to the animation quality, character designs, and stunning backgrounds I will definitely get the “art of” book when it comes out.

More stunning background artwork.

In the mean time America has to wait till February of 2012 before Arrietty hits the U.S. Shores. (That is ridiculous. thank heavens for Amazon Japan and Ghibli always including English subtitles.)

[edited: 7 November 2011: cleaned up and clarified points.]

IF- Launch ~3 hour illustration

With the recent progression of my illustrations I felt my process was too slow and clunky....especially involving COLOR. So last night I scripted up illustration process and today I enacted my evil plan:

• concept
• thumbnails
• final sketch
• scan
• "marker" outline pencil drawing
• Do several color comps on the value pencil drawing
• Finalize colors (simplify)
• Build pallette of colors. (3 values for each color: light, local color, dark)
• Paint
• Finilize painting.

None of the process is exceptionally special or secret...it is just what speaks to me best!

I did this illustration in 3 hours, actually less than 3. It is not meant to be perfect and/or complete...more of a test to see how close I could get something done with this method while still looking professional in 3 hours.

Part of my new process was to FURTHER control color by having a limited palette. This method really really worked for me.

Anyway off I got to WATCH Miyazaki's new MOVIE! The last time was Ponyo and that came out about the same time I started this blog. Its been awhile... I most likely will do a post on my thoughts.

note: I left the illustration large so you can see the texture and painter quality I have been working towards.

Illustration 3 - WTC Tombraiders

[EDIT: August 16, 2011. Did a complete "paint over" of this painting. To see go here: http://monisawa.blogspot.com/2011/08/end-of-summerand-webpage-update.html

[edit: 11:oo pm june 18. made some adjustments to painting.]

I'm not exactly sure if it is done...but I am highly HIGHLY satisfied with the result.

I plan to do a "process" post on this illustration...in fact I was going to do it right now, but I spent 1-1/2 hours longer than I intended. X_x sigh. So I need to go do family things now. haha So plan on seeing that in the future. Also if anyone has any feedback, I would appreciate it!

Quick impression of what I learned:

1. The pencil sketch made a world of difference for a foundation. (This was Pencil sketch #2) Though sometimes I also enjoy just going with the flow based off a loose sketch.

2.Let go of the sketch. When I made the sketch I thought it was perfect, so painting over it and keeping what it was seemed impossible, so just let it go and let the painting evolve into its own thing.

3.My greatest weakness right now is color...and I feel that when I control it at all times I have the greatest success. In times past I would use the Auto contrast feature to fix all my problems, and the jump from what I was doing to what it ended up was so extreme I no longer had control. So this time I used the auto contrast feature only in small leaps....and made my greatest changes manually.

sketch illustration-5 (of 5)

By far this is one of the most complicated illustrations of the 5 I've done the past week-week and a half...and I'm pleased with the result.

In regards to what I've learned doing these sketch illustrations....I prefer arriving somewhere rather than being somewhere. Basically I have re-emphasized my desire to let the artwork evolve rather than plan every single detail. Through evolving I am able to arrive somewhere I never thought possible...and most the time end up being genuinely surprised at the world I get to peak into.

These 5 illustrations have also given me a starting point on:

1. what I am capable of doing.

2.help realize what I like doing. (and can be profitable at)

3.Establish a consistant and marketable style.

The only issue at this point is to get this quality of illustrations in color. That will be my next focus...So next week I shall continue my summer illustration program with Illustration #3 pencil to painting! See you then!

btw I dedicate the hanging animals to my cousin Sarah. haha mostly the squirrel. ^_^

Sketch illustration-4 (of 5)

So much for sleep. haha! (140am) Here is my 4th installment of pencil sketch illustrations. Whew...I have to say it is nice to get back to Bristol board. By the end of the week I should have all 5 pencil illustrations complete.

sketch illustration-3 (of 5)

It seems that I am doing a pretty good job at staying on top of these pencil illustrations. So far I've made about one every other day.

This particular illustration was difficult because I decided to try it on a more affordable paper that I had a larger quantity of... (watercolor cold press 90 lb). The paper was crazy textured which didn't allow for the subtle shading I prefer, it really didn't want to accept the graphite as much and when it came to erasing it would just smear. So fail on this type of paper. I did what I could with the illustration. hope you enjoy! ^_^

Sketch illustration-2 (of 5)

So there you have it. I ended up doing a full blown and somewhat complicated illustration. I had been batting this idea in my head for a few weeks, in fact it was supposed to be illustration #3 for my summer project. I completed this pencil drawing in less a day.

I don't know if anymore of the 5 will be this complicated, but honestly it was quite easy to do! (easier than my old methods). Staring out light and working in pencil by progressively getting darker allows for more change than I ever thought possible (or maybe it is just the bristol board.) Plus working in pencil (or most dry media) is second nature to me.

Sketch illustration-1 (of 5)

My initial plan was to do a quick pencil line drawing on bristol board so that I could do a greyscale oil painting, scan it and then convert to color...however as i started to lay down the shading with my .9 mechanical pencil I kept rendering, and rendering and rendering. Before I knew it the oil paints sounded less and less interesting.

I am such a practical persons and find it hard to sketch or make finished sketches of things that are not going to become a full rendered-colored illustration. So over the next week or so (instead of my third illustration) I will complete a total of 4 more penciled illustrations. They will be simple, exploring and fun at the same time.

Following after my initial idea for the illustration above, after I have completed the five pencil drawings I will then pick one of them and make an color illustration of it. Perhaps I will continue this process for the rest of the summer! It is fun to complete many ideas in a highly rendered fashion in the time it takes me to complete one. Plus by having a full value pencil drawing it makes for a good start as an underpainting.