Lot's Wife Edition 5 2015

48
ART SHOWCASE
Janelle Barone
Right, so, this is me doing a thing where I explain how I
do things and what the hell I do them for —
My work is really just a bunch of observations.
Sometimes I’ll take a crappy picture of something
that intrigues me, and then use it as a basis for an
illustration. I try to tell a story with my illustrations and I
hope that they are mundane, atmospheric, non-specific
and contemplative. I don’t want to be direct, the more
mysterious the image is, the more successful I think it
becomes. People underestimate their ability to derive
meaning from things that haven’t been spelt out for
them.
The subject of my illustrations are usually pretty
ordinary, and I tend to get inspiration from my
immediate surroundings. The thing that I think is best
though, is taking an idea from something that was
never articulated visually before, like a song or a novel, a
joke or a conversation.
Above Left: Brat
Above Right: No Standing (2014)
Below Left: Up Only (2015)
Next Page: Beware, Tram Depot (2015)
"People underestimate their ability
to derive meaning from things that
haven’t been spelt out for them."
The thing that I get asked the most is how I do my
illustrations. Basically, I’ll start by creating a pencil
sketch, then, once I am okay with it I’ll scan it in, clean
it up and then trace over it with my digital pen. For me,
the line-work takes the longest and its effectiveness
has an impact on how easy adding colour to the image
becomes later.
The reason I do things on the computer is simply that
I like to use a lot of layers, and you can create much
cleaner, more fluid lines which are mercifully nonpermanent
and completely erasable. Very rarely do I
stick with the first version of a line that I draw.
When the line-work is complete I’ll start adding
more layers of colour underneath. Usually, I’ll start by
colouring the image ‘naturally’ and then play around
with filters and monochromatic schemes afterwards.
Colours, can I just say, are great. Go colours. If you can’t
see them, sucks for you. They have an enormous impact
on how effective my illustration is and how obvious its
point of focus is.
janelle-barone.com