We're excited to welcome Richard Due today. Mr. Due is the author of The Moon Coin: A Moon Realm Novel. We'll be posting our review of The Moon Coin soon!
From Sketch to Chapter Art, an Illustrator at Work
From Sketch to Chapter Art, an Illustrator at Work
For me, getting to work with Carolyn Arcabascio was a dream come true. On The Moon Coin,
we worked from a master list of scene options, with Carolyn picking out
scenes she liked and making sketches. For the prologue, Carolyn drafted
three options. All three were great, but two in particular were
spectacular. I first went with option 3 (one of my scene suggestions). I
think we spent more time on this sketch and subsequent color drawing
than on any other piece. But it never seemed right. At the eleventh
hour, I asked Carolyn how hard she’d hit me if I suggested scrapping the
thing and instead going with the pinky promise scene you see below (one
of her scene suggestions). Carolyn responded: "There would be no
hitting involved!" and told me it wouldn't be a problem. You sure can't
ask for better than that.
From the Prologue: Bedtime Tales.
Click on image to enlarge.
Richard: Did you make all these sketches in the same location, Carolyn?
Carolyn: Yes,
I do all of my work at a drafting table that's situated in a little
nook of my apartment in Acton, Massachusetts. There's a bookshelf to my
right and a wall of "inspiration" to my left, where I hang prints of
other artists' and illustrators' work. On either side of my drafting
table are drawers of supplies, and stacks of sketchbooks and old
paintings. The drafting table faces a window overlooking a quiet street
and the woods beyond it.
From Chapter Two: A Coin of the Realm.
Click on image to enlarge.
Richard: Do you use models when you're sketching?
Carolyn: I
use a combination of models and photo references. If I need to work out
the nuances of a character's posture and really understand the
perspective of it, I'll ask whatever friend or family member is handy to
pose for a sketch. Often, I'll get into the position myself or mimic
the facial expression I want to portray in order to get the feel of it.
And sometimes, if there's a character being portrayed multiple times
across scenes, I'll make a rough model of their head out of clay so I'll
have it to refer to.
From Chapter Four: To Barreth.
Click on image to enlarge.
Richard: When
drawing fantastical creatures, do you use bits and pieces of real
animals for inspiration, or have you actually seen a wirtle and you're
just not telling us? ;)
Carolyn: No
wirtles native to Massachusetts, fortunately! When figuring out the
look of fantastical creatures, I use photo references of different
animals to understand the way the anatomy might work, and then combine
features as I see fit and as the story calls for. To understand the
wirtle's legs and paws, for example, I referred to a series of
photographs of show dogs leaping over hurdles. The severely arched,
scruffy back was influenced by photos of hyenas on the prowl. The
bone-structure of the face ended up being something of a cross between a
cow and a warthog, and I wanted the snout to be bare—kind of gross and
raw-looking. Add it all up and, voila! We have a wirtle.
The Moon Coin, by Richard Due, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iBookstore for $2.99.
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Copyright © 2011 by Richard Due. All rights reserved.
Gibbering Gnome Press, A Division of Ingenious Inventions Run Amok, Ink™
The Moon Realm™
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