So, uhmmm… It’s been so long I almost forgot we had a blog! Seriously though, the holidays can really throw a nice, big, holiday-sized wrench into your creative motivation. (I’m going to blame it on all that turkey and rum-fortified egg nog.) Anyhow, let’s have at it…
The latest kid’s painting I did was for our friend’s son Paul’s b-day celebration. I was pretty happy with the results and I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss my working process. He likes tigers and pirates so we figured a combo of the two would go over nicely.
First off I do some quick research for visual reference and ideas. While I have a nice art book library at home I usually rely on a Google image search and/or browse through some of the stock image sites (the web has made this ridiculously quick and easy). If I don’t have a clear design or character in mind before hand, this can really get the creative brain juices flowing.
From there I start sketching out rough ideas. I’ve found that staying loose and not focusing on details is the key to keeping this process going. The kiss of death to creativity is being consumed by a small detail that you just can’t seem to get to look the way you want it. (I’ve had projects in the past that have lasted for months and months because I can’t quite get the look I have in mind. I’ll pick them up and rework them, then get frustrated and put them down again for awhile until I finally settle on them and call it good. In fact, just thinking about them now, years later, makes me want to redo them. I think the cause is a stilted creative process; something in the flow that was thrown off and can’t be forced back into place, and which subsequently haunts the mind of the creator… forever. Yikes! That was pretty angst ridden for a blog about kid’s art, wasn’t it?)
Anyhow, once I find a character and/or design I like I clean it up and refine it further. Once I’m satisfied with the end result I do a rough color test with color pencils. This saves time later when I’m painting because I don’t have to experiment with color palettes. (Well, at least not overall. I still experiment with color mixes and tone variations when I’m mixing the paint.) For this layout I didn’t have much experimenting to do because it’s based in reality and we know that the sky is blue in pirate locales, the ocean a deep blue/green, sandy islands a light tan, etc. Other layouts might require half a dozen or more color tests; it all depends on the subject.
From there I dig out my shoebox full of acrylic paints and start painting on the canvas. I was fairly happy with the way this one turned out because I got it done in one morning and hadn’t painted in a few months. But there are always internal reminders/to-do lists for the next one… For one, I thought the black outline ended up too thick and prominent.
Well, that’s that. Hopefully this has been a fun peek into my creative process. Thanks for reading!
Really sweet! Nice to see the sketches, too.