Cowboy

Hi chaps,

I've been doing some cowboy characters just now, so I thought I'd pop one up here, and show how he developed from first sketch, to refined line, to coloured in.
I had the idea and image in my head quite clearly for this one, with the pose and outfit, so it was sort of just a matter of copying it out of my imagination and onto the page.
Which is sort of how I work. I sit and think for a while until I have an image in my head, and then try and replicate the image on the page. So the more clearly I can visualise the illustration before hand, the quicker it comes out.
So the first sketch here is pretty refined and complete, I didn't have to do a second version or fiddle with anything much to get it how I wanted it.

And then I put the colour on. Fairly straightforward outfit for him, basically blue, but I wanted a bit of variation within that too. Not just flat.


And then I knock back the rough line to 40%, as if it's on a light-box with a new sheet over it, and do the refined finished line on a new layer.

I've got a brown colour that I like using for my ink, and I set this layer to multiply.

 


















So there he is, and hopefully it's a bit informative and interesting, or at least a mildly diverting read :)

Pirate Game Book

Hi chaps,

Look here's an actual copy of the pirate game book I illustrated with the guys at Hallmark.
This is a picture book with games in it as well. Like the Mouse's birthday book I posted about before.
But I think it's worth having a bit of a look at, worth showing you a few pictures, because the design is really interesting.

To start off with, it's got a nice big cover, which has a spinner on it, here designed as part of the steering wheel. So you don't need any dice that might get lost, you just need a couple of counters.


And you can open it up and read the story as with a normal book.
Like this.


But, here's the interesting design bit. The cover has an extra fold on its edge, so you can fold it out flat like this.
Which means you can still see the spinner when you reach one of the games, like so.

And you can then carry on reading the story with the spinner there.

And it'll be there ready for when the next game comes up.


Clever huh?
But I'll post some pictures of the Mouse's Amusement park book as well soon.