Snowed in VW...
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About Me
- stathis
- Designer/Illustrator. Syracuse University School of Design. Art Center College of Design(Europe). My product design work can be viewed at www.vastdesign.gr - All images and pictures on this blog are created, unless otherwise noted, by Stathis Petropoulos and are not to be reproduced or published without the expressed authorization of the artist. Thank you.
1 comment:
Hello, and sorry I didn't respond earlier. My process? Wow, that would be a long answer:) It really depends on what I'm doing....but I'll try to break it down:
I start with research. I do a lot of observing of nature (it's the best research library), but photo research is the next best thing. I shoot my own if I can. Books are wonderful, and of course, Google.
When I start in on a composition, I like to get a good sense of the geography of the place. In the case of those B & W drawings from my last post, I actually started with a map of the location. Not an elaborate map...just a rough diagram of the placement of large objects, so I could keep them straight in my head. It's especially helpful if you're going to be doing several images of the same location, but from different vantage points.
I almost always do a small sketch to get my thoughts in order. These are very rough, and I try to keep then focused on large compositional shapes. No rendering...strictly compositional design.
For color illustrations, I will also do a small color sketch before I start the final piece. Again, no rendering, just spots of color. I’ll find color inspiration everywhere. Nature, photos...very often, I will "borrow" the color palette from a favorite artist. There's a lot to choose from. Of course, depending on what you want you finished piece to look like will dictate where you go for color reference.
When I start a painting, I often dive right in without a layout drawing, so I have to think compositionally in terms of shape, as well as color.
As for the process of starting the actually painting, the best piece of advice I can give is "Use a big brush!" The idea is, large brushes force you to stay loose, and to think about broad shapes...it's impossible to work on details (which aren't important at this stage. Save them for later.) I like to start a painting with as big a brush as I can. And when I say big, I mean something like half the height of my image. Huge! Of course I work with smaller brushes as I continue to refine. But at every stage, I try to ask myself if there's anything else I can paint with this brush before I move down to the next smaller size. Once you get used to the large size, you'll be amazed how much you can paint with large brushes, and how much faster and better you paint than with small ones. Again, save the small brushes for the end. Think of painting like a meal: The sketch is the appetizer; the big brushes are the main course, and the small brushes are for dessert.
Speaking of food, it's breakfast time here, so I'm going to leave it at that.
Good luck!
-Paul
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