i-m-a-g-i-n-efx-august
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Artist insight Book cover<br />
dragons for<br />
beginners<br />
I have plenty of references<br />
on lizards, snakes and<br />
crocodiles, but only for the<br />
textures. For the structure<br />
of dragons, I find one’s<br />
imagination is more<br />
reliable. It’s best to design<br />
fantastical creatures<br />
without help, relying on<br />
memory and imagination,<br />
before going back to the<br />
photos to paint any details.<br />
Pencils for small sketches<br />
A sketch needs to be legible. I prefer to do mine in<br />
pencil, only doing colour sketches at gun point. I’ll<br />
save colour for later, when I’ll be working full size.<br />
step-by-step: Painting the rocks and magical sculptor<br />
establishing the setting<br />
1 Not knowing the spine widths in advance,<br />
I decide to extend the rocky scenery to the<br />
left, just in case the book ends up wider<br />
than planned. The first step is to paint the<br />
sky using plenty of water and bright colours.<br />
I really want to depict an evening scene,<br />
because this means the foreground will be in<br />
shadow, which is the look I’m after.<br />
the risky Part<br />
2 I mask off the sky, silhouetting the cliff<br />
and the dragon. I prefer using wide brushes<br />
and generous gestures when painting rock,<br />
so masking is crucial. It’s important to cut<br />
most of the way through the thickness of the<br />
tape but not quite, to avoid damaging the<br />
paper underneath. I press down hard on the<br />
tape, to avoid colours leaking underneath.<br />
keePing a light on<br />
3 The blue glow of the sculptor’s hands<br />
needs to be part of the background itself.<br />
Lots of cliff and rock photos, mostly mine<br />
but also scavenged from magazines, serve<br />
as reference for details and general<br />
structure. I paint the sculptor over the blue<br />
glow, leaving out the hands themselves,<br />
which will be added last.<br />
August 2017<br />
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