More Animation by Jardley Jean-Louis
I’ve decided that with every post, well certain ones that I’ve voiced my opinion on something or really thought of something, I’d create a piece specifically for that blog post. I find that thinking about the illustration, how it’ll cater to you readers and to the contents of the post really excites me. And since I don’t want to half-ass it I get to add another piece to my portfolio.
This one was specifically for the post: Useful Sites & Resources For Becoming An Illustrator
More (First Stages) by Jardley Jean-Louis
When I draw I tend to press down on the pencil not heavily, but it isn’t easy to erase or hide when you use watercolor either. I usually have to do multiple washes or use less water more color if hiding it is what I’m looking for. And most times that is.
Before I applied color in the form of watercolor, I really thought that I was dealing with a waterproof board. I was pretty surprised when it absorbed it with each stroke. It was the toothy texture of the board I saw and I just presumed. This using the wrong paper thing has been happening to me with probably the last five pieces I’ve done, this just continued that streak. I still tried to use watercolor on it though and actually liked the spots of heavy application here and there.
As you can see on the below image, specifically in the woman’s coat the pencil lines are still very clear. I didn’t like that they were so evident when I just used light washes, and muted tones of watercolor. That’s not how I wanted to finish the piece. So I used more acrylic paint with less water in different areas to see how that’d go.
More (Middle Stage) by Jardley Jean-Louis
I anticipated the worst when I thought of painting the dude who sits in the books chair. I already knew I’d make him black. Trying to watercolor a dark skintone on paper that can’t handle it, yeah it’s gonna look really bad in my opinion. This has happened to me before with the example in the above link but the result turned out great the more I improved it with colored pencil. This time around I just try to remedy the situation by using light and dark washes of watercolor.
When I scanned the above image in, I really didn’t like how the background looked. There was too much white smudges on parts that weren’t strictly lines (from continues applications of watercolor). So I cleaned that up with acrylic and added yellow ochre paint on certain panels to spruce it up when the thought of adding something other than sky blue came to me.
At the end, the piece was finished more with acrylic than watercolor.
More by Jardley Jean-Louis
Going into this I knew I wanted headphones, diversity (well I always want diversity), a book chair, similar light colors in the style of Daniel Mackie, and painted splattered pants. Well, actually the paint splattered pants came in the middle. I knew I didn’t want the piece to be focused on one person or a computer. I wanted to show the physical actions and behaviors of artist and illustrators looking for resources that answered their questions while also highlighting what I was asking from my readers and what behaviors you could expect to do when you read the advice and tips through the listed sites. Behaviors like listening to the podcasts and sending out postcards in the mail. To further keep it connected to an artist, the paint splattered pants was a way to do it. When I look at the piece now, with the positions of everyone in it, their behaviors and eagerness reminds me of browsing in a magazine or book store or library. With everyone absorbed in their world.
While I didn’t get the exact perspective or an addition of figures doing certain actions I had in my head, I think I actually like the vibrant colors that came out of this one.
I do want to see if I can actually finish an illustration with a certain color scheme though. Particularly a muted one. Just to see if I can do it. Like testing how well I can draw a blurry shot like Rory Kurtz did. But, of course in the mediums I use.
We’ll see how that one goes. I’ll be sure to update you.
Happy Wednesday.
