So, to offer an update on the subject in “Synthesis,” I’ll say that I’m still very much enjoying and benefiting from that newfound purpose of creating my unique characters through legitimate techniques I learned in school. I’ve done a few pictures in that style. I’m definitely not sick of doing things this way, either. I feel like there’s a lot more to explore and communicate.
I followed my usual style of doing things up until the ink wash. Also, I used a brush and ink well rather than a pen for the lines, giving them more character. Then, I took a risk and decided to add a second color and made the umbrella red. Then I was trying to figure out how to help Andrew, Micah and Danny from being lost in the grayness that they sat on. So after testing it on the digital copy, I took a risk and made that pink wash in the background. It also helped to distinguish what I was doing in the bottom portion. I think this turned out really nicely. (:
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This was a product of boredom at 10:30 at night, with some help from my cat Hoshi, who was very determined to eat the conte crayons I was using on this. For this I had in mind a piece I did in a similar setting with Andrew from when I was in high school. But I way simplified things; my goal in its predecessor was to make the image as cluttered and busy as I could. This one ended up with that epic focal point with the book after I decided to leave the window area starkly white. Since that was a decision made late in the piece, the light source shading on Andrew is a little questionable and inconsistent. But this was also practice on creating a face without making every tiny detailed line: more of an idea of the face, rather than a completed face.
