"Embrace" Watercolor + Photoshop

Hello, everybody! I'm Teju, and I'm currently a 3rd Year Illustration student in a BFA program. I've watched/followed Will and Jake for years on YT and other social media, and I've been subscribed to SVS since this summer. Since I'm a student right now, I've been super busy and unable to be active on the forums or even take the SVS classes I've been paying for! But it's Christmas break, so I've got some time, and I wanted to introduce myself. (I apologize ahead of time for the long post; I just wanted to show some of my work as well as tell you a bit about it)

Originally when I entered school, I wanted to be a Visual Development artist. But after a lot of inner turmoil and rediscovering watercolors, I've decided to pursue Children's Book Illustration. I'd also like to do Middle Grade, Illustrated Novels for Adults, and Book Covers. I have so much I need to research and learn about the publishing industry! I aspire to one day professionally illustrate my favorite fairy tales and classics, even if they have been done a great number of times by amazing artists. I also wouldn't mind a Caldecott or Hans Christan Anderson Award along the way. . .

I primarily use Watercolors, but I do use Photoshop for certain classes at school, preliminary work, and edits. Critique is welcome!

Traditional Work:

These were little studies I did in my sketchbook a year ago last winter break to help get me more comfortable with watercolor.

(I've got quite a few self-portraits, but don't worry I'm not a narcissist My face is just always available!)

Jumping off my sketchbook drawing, an illustration based on the prompt 'Music'

'Ad Without Context' Assignment. I chose Tums as my product.

Children's Book Illustration based on short sentence: Sarah watched her son through the window, as he stood in the garden and bloomed roses with his hands."

Illustration based on the George MacDonald fairy tale, 'The Light Princess'

The Hundred Dresses Book Cover Re-design

Designed as part of an illustrated billboard promoting Barnes & Noble, but I cropped it to suit my portfolio

Children's book illustrations based on the Aesop's fables, 'The Fox and the Crow' and 'The Fox and the Grapes'

Book Cover Re-Design for 'The Thirteenth Tale'. This was my final Illustration assignment this semester. I still have some things to fix from critique, and I want to rework on the type.

Digital Work:

Self-portrait from Summer 2016

Painting based on photo-ref for my computer illustration class last school year

A portrait of my friend, trying a different approach

This is one of a series of posters I designed for my Typography class this semester. (I included type on the final, I can post that if you'd like to see.) It's different and more graphic than things I've done before, but I think it has a good feeling to it. I really want to improve my design skills in addition to my drawing and painting skills. I kow that good design is what really sets the great illustrators from the mediocre and average.

WIP: Painting I started this summer based on something I was going through and didn't have time to work on once the semester started. I'm trying to experiment to find my voice & process digitally. Going to try and finish this during this break

I struggle with finding a cohesive look within the realm of my traditional work, and then the realm of my digital work, and then both together. I feel that there is a discrepancy between my traditional work and digital work. I also feel that my work looks like four different artists. I will be doing Lee's Dream Portfolio assignment now that I have free time (I've watched that lecture twice so far), and look for a direction. (Just noticed how much green is in my work as I post this, and I don't even particularly like green, haha!)

Thanks for reading this super long post! I'm happy to be a part of this community!

Seeing everyone's work made me want to post too! My theme this month is Flora & Faces, and I'm using flower symbolism to tie in somewhat with the prompts. If you go to my instagram there are actually short poems to go with them. First day for Poisonous is Atropa Belladonna/Deadly Nightshade, and the second day for Tranquil is the Spathiphyllum/Peace Lily. I've wanted to participate for so long but have been intimidated by ink, haven't had a good concept, and haven't been able to stick with it past the first week. But I've actually planned a head this time, so wish me luck!

Once you realize that you can always make a new piece of art, critiques aren't bad at all. If you want to improve, they are imperative. I had a critique from my AD this summer, and once I fixed it, it was obvious. Thank goodness she saw what I couldn't. I also realized when working for someone else, I feel not at all bad about critiques or starting over. They are literally paying me for my time and my skill and to listen to them and make whatever changes they want. Working on something that isn't yours is pretty freeing, honestly.

You still need to keep that mindset when working on your own work. As a creator, you can create again. Everything is changeable. Nothing is precious. Sometimes you don't want to, but think back three years or even one; some work you loved is nothing compared to what you do now.

I did get a critique from a teacher on a thumbnail/sketch part of a book cover project, and he didn't get it. He said he didn't like it and I should redraw it. Now, I had spent a long time drawing this out the weekend before and was pretty done and ready to move on to the finish. I disagreed completely with him. I knew he couldn't see where I was going with it. So I ignored him, and finished it out how I wanted. And guess what, he loved it. When you accept a lot of critiques and give a lot of critiques, you can recognize when things are personal preference or just a not-good crit.

I always try to accept all crit that is offered or suggested, even/especially when I disagree. Sometimes I implement it and sometimes I ignore it, but I always try to think about why someone would comment on whatever it is. Why is it good? Why do I want to ignore it? Why do I feel strongly either way? If I ignore it, then I have to accept that I might fall on flat on my face and fail due to stubbornness.

Also, I can see and comment on what makes other people's work good but I'm self-blind. I'm so used to trying to constantly fix my work and not being attached to it too much, that critiques help me understand that I don't suck. It's like, 'oh, I'm doing something right too, not just only needing to improve'.

So yeah, I love critiques. Without them, I couldn't have possibly grown at all.

Scroll to the bottom if you just want to see the finish and don't care about the process

Hullo, everyone! I've been on the forums for a while now, but other than my intro I think this is the first illustration I'm posting

So the illustration department at my school decided to do a little poster competition this year for our Senior Show poster, and this is my entry. Although our thesis projects are pretty open to whatever we want to do, our only criteria is that we need to create a book of some kind. So it's not the most original idea, but I wanted to represent that aspect of the show and symbolize different imagery you might find if you pick on up.

I thought it would also be fun to show and describe the process I've been using for my finished illustrations lately, especially since I've been combining watercolor and digital and I haven't really seen a similar approach on the forums.

1. The Sketch

If I'm doing a random painting or just working in a sketchbook, I just sketch straight onto the paper, but when working on an illustration I always do the sketches digitally. I'm a lazy artist who hates drawing things multiple times, so it allows me the flexibility to move things around, resize, and version things out. It also allows me to screw up a lot since I've still got a lot of work to do on my drawing skills.

Really rudimentary idea thumbnails might be traditional, and then more refined 'showy ones' digital, but I didn't do thumbnails for this because I knew my concept and I honestly just didn't want to. Lately I've noticed I'll just do a minimal scribble for the idea in the corner then delete it and edit as I go.

This is the level of finish to which I probably ever work to in sketch stage since a.) I'll refine/edit it when I have to transfer it to WC paper, and it's a waste of time for me to essentially draw the same thing twice, b.) I like to make final/spontaneous decisions while painting. For me drawing is fun, but painting is even better. I also just draw faster with an actual pencil for some reason.

2. Transfer

I unfortunately didn't scan the pencil line stage. I printed out the sketch, taped it to my LED light pad, taped my WC paper on top and traced it. Some people use transfer paper, but I've found that takes me forever, isn't as clean as this tracing, and can leave little nasty spots on the paper. I 'finalize' my drawings at this stage. (I usually end up changing things when I paint regardless)

3. Traditional Painting

This is a little different than I usually do, since I prefer painting in color, but I was also doing Inktober when concepting this and had other projects, and didn't want to go through the trouble/time of coming up with a color scheme and painting a bunch of color studies. So in the spirit of Inktober I just painted it grayscale, which I actually hadn't done before for a WC illustration surprisingly. I kept it pretty midtone because that's one of my tendencies, there is a lot of negative white space in the composition, and I knew I'd have more flexibility in the edit later. I'm sad that I killed some of the movement in the sketch like in the hair, but that is something I'm working on.

4. Photoshop, Color, + Finish
The poster size is 24X36 at 300dpi, but no way I had the time to actually paint that, so I painted it ~11x17, but scanned it in at 800dpi. I cleaned it up in Photoshop (balanced the values, cleaned up the paper, fixed some mistakes, yada yada) and if it was painted in color that would've been that.

But I painted it in B+W, so now I had a problem. I had no clue what colors I wanted for it. Also one of the reasons I paint traditionally; I am forced to work within certain limitations and can let the pigments do a lot of the heavy lifting. I take so much longer digitally due to indecisiveness alone, my goodness. Mad respect to all you digital painters who paint such wonderful things. I attempted to paint everything with local color but it looked bad and was talking too long. Can't have that if I'm on a deadline.

I usually colorize B+W sketches/paintings, so I did a few random things before slapping a gradient on it and messing with the hues until I started to feel like I was getting somewhere. I added a slightly different hue to the skin and made the dress yellow, but the base of everything else is a gradient. I scanned in a bunch of watercolor texture and blooms and played around with them. I tweaked and painted highlights, shadows etc. I pushed the stuff coming out of the book back a little as well. Just a lot of tweaking. Finalized the type (RIP me) and then here we are

It ain't perfect, and I can't say it turned out how I pictured it, especially since I didn't have a clear picture of it in my head, but I do think it captures the warmth, spirit, and magic that Illustration holds for me and my classmates. There are a lot of amazing submissions, so I'm not holding my breath, but it's a decent portfolio piece I think

If you actually read all this, have a virtual high-five!

I'm pleased to say that I have accepted a position at Hallmark Cards for after graduation, and have been picked up by Astound Illustration Agency for publishing

I want to say that I've been a fan of Will and Jake via YT since I was a confused teenager trying to understand what illustration even was, so when I heard about SVS, I thought it was a brilliant idea. When I finally had the ability to, I signed up and was then introduced to Lee through 3rd Thursdays and his classes. Even though I'm finishing up a traditional BFA, I don't think I would've been able to improve as fast as I did without learning from you guys, too. Your industry experience and anecdotes have been invaluable.

So with that, @Will-Terry, @Jake-Parker, and @Lee-White, I want to give a really big mega thanks to you guys for all the help and information you provide both for free and at such a low cost to everyone. It has truly made a difference. I also am so glad to be able to share in the community here with everyone on the forum.

Thank you guys so much!

@jake-parker This was perfectly cringey and hilarious! And for Lee's confoundment about faxes, doctors and nurses use faxes a lot because it's faster and more secure for sending certain documents. I liked this episode because it makes all the inevitable cringe of being in this industry more bearable when you know others have their stories to share

I haven't had enough experience for anything truly embarrassing, though I am sure I'll have plenty of opportunities. Here's one though:

Last year I was accidentally rude to one of my teachers during a critique, which is really out of character for me. I wasn't feeling well that day, and I knew the work I had done wasn't good, so I pretty much checked out of the critique. I knew it'd be harsh and already chocked the piece up to a failed experiment. So when he mentioned how it wasn't working and was disappointing compared to my other projects, I said that I didn't care. He took it to mean that I didn't care about his critique or perspective, but I actually meant that I didn't care about the artwork because I knew it was a flop. He seemed really offended and surprised that I would say something like that. Looking back, I'm surprised I said something like that and acted like that. I was so sick and felt so crummy that I didn't mind my manners and I forgot to apologize. I felt horrible after we finished the critique. I still feel bad about it over a year later. Gracefully, he seems to have completely forgotten it ever happened and has even recommended me for certain scholarships and awards. Helped me realize that no matter how bad I'm feeling, I need to be mindful of how I come across, and act professionally. If it was an art director or professional contact or a new acquaintance, it could've been really, really bad. But he knew me and luckily the moment passed. I still feel the cringe though. Good working relationships with people can save your backside! Hopefully, I never make a mistake like that again.

Hello, everyone!

I am in need of your advice. So next week Monday is the first day of my summer illustration internship. It'll be my first real job, my first real art job or day job. I'm super nervous because I've never done anything like this before. I've worked for my dad for a long while, but that isn't art related at all, I was a figure drawing tutor at school, and I've done like 4 small private commissions. So saying I'm inexperienced is an understatement. The studio is in a different state than I live or attend college. I'm flying out on Friday and will only have about two days to gain my bearings before starting so that'll be enough of a shock in itself.

Whether or not you have an art job or not, I'd like your advice on what to do and what not to do when starting a new 9-to-5 and starting a job in a new city. I know the basics such as, "work hard, treat others with respect, be on time", but any nuggets of wisdom will be appreciated. I'm freaking out!

Hi! I know we're just coming off the holidays, and the new year has started but is there a contest this month? Just wanted to check so we'd have as much time as possible to work on it. Thanks.

@Sorcha Drawing from pictures in and of itself or using them for reference is not bad, but it becomes bad when you use it as a crutch. Drawing from life will cause you to improve drastically and faster than only drawing from pictures ever will. You're beholden to the photographs.

You'll find that if you do observational drawing then come back to drawing from photos that so much information is lost and so many decisions have been made by the camera on your behalf. With observational experience you can breathe more life into the images. As the artist you want to be able to make those decisions yourself.

Drawing from life forces you to think differently and really know what you are drawing and why you are drawing it. I use photos for reference all the time, but have done life drawing and can use both to make artistic decisions instead of just relying on my reference. Professionals do/did it all the time too (Rockwell, anyone?)

Consider also that when you are learning, it's not about making a pretty image. I've seen in my experience that artists who rely only on photos usually want to make something pretty more than they want to learn. Making stuff that doesn't look the best at first when learning is expected until you get a good foundation. If you want to improve the most that you can, I would say that observation is necessary.

I think this is really good! Some suggestions would be to give the type more space considering the long vertical vines. Especially the one near the 'T' is making a tangent and is awkward. You could get rid of it. Also, check the spelling on Rudyard, you spelled it "Rudjard". His name will need to be bigger as well. The title is a good size, but even if this was printed out full size, it would need to be more significant.

@Potterkun I also tend to have finals that are less contrasted as I like. Try overcompensating the values, and there is also nothing wrong with making a few adjustments in Photoshop when you finish. I think the walking stick works fine as long as it still keeps with the story.

I've pointed out the arc tangent made by the hat and the trees, and a couple of other minor ones. The arc is the one that really flattens the space.

@Potterkun It's definitely an interesting balance, trying to listen to critique and stay true to what you like to do. Do you do value and color studies before the final illustration? Doing three to four developed studies of each will help solve those issues.

A good exercise for color is to steal the color palette of a successful piece by an artist you admire that has a similar mood as yours. That way you know that the color works, and sort of reverse engineer it.

Also keep in mind certain tangents that are flattening space.. The cuff of the mouse's pants makes a tangent with the bush, and in the second image, the top of the boy's hat lines up with the arc of the tree branches in the back.

@Potterkun Your work is cartoony, but ‘too cartoony’ depends on who you are asking and what you are going for. The publisher you spoke too said it was too cartoony for them. Before you show your work to another, research the artists that they usually publish and work with. You need to understand where your work fits in. Different companies want different things and different stories require different illustrators. You need more opinions than just one publisher, although I wonder what other critique they gave besides saying it is too cartoony.

The gesture of the character in the first piece is very upright. I can see that he is walking forward, but I think the line of action and gesture can be pushed, so he has more momentum. What are some specifics you want critique on or think you need help with?

@Alligatarz It’s only day 5! Changing the size could affect you but I’d think that’d be minimal unless it was a drastic size change. If you have the rules laid out for the challenge and are keeping variables consistent (such as spending the same time on each or an appropriate amount) you’ll see some progress when you are done.

It’s a three week challenge and you haven’t even finished the first one. That’s like going to the gym for five days and wondering why you haven’t gotten stronger. Not every piece will exceed the last, but you’ll be able to see an overall improvement if you keep at it and finish. Sometimes the thing is to do the work the whole way through.

@Sorcha Drawing from pictures in and of itself or using them for reference is not bad, but it becomes bad when you use it as a crutch. Drawing from life will cause you to improve drastically and faster than only drawing from pictures ever will. You're beholden to the photographs.

You'll find that if you do observational drawing then come back to drawing from photos that so much information is lost and so many decisions have been made by the camera on your behalf. With observational experience you can breathe more life into the images. As the artist you want to be able to make those decisions yourself.

Drawing from life forces you to think differently and really know what you are drawing and why you are drawing it. I use photos for reference all the time, but have done life drawing and can use both to make artistic decisions instead of just relying on my reference. Professionals do/did it all the time too (Rockwell, anyone?)

Consider also that when you are learning, it's not about making a pretty image. I've seen in my experience that artists who rely only on photos usually want to make something pretty more than they want to learn. Making stuff that doesn't look the best at first when learning is expected until you get a good foundation. If you want to improve the most that you can, I would say that observation is necessary.

@Laurel-Aylesworth Thank you

@nikstage Thank you!

"Embrace" Watercolor + Photoshop

I love learning about the tools artists choose to use! I agree a lot with Lee and Will about the quality of materials and how that can affect results. Once I started using better materials, such as cotton/heavier watercolor paper, it became easier to get the results that I wanted. I'm a bit of a supply enthusiast, especially when it comes to watercolor.

As far as limiting your palette, my main watercolor palette has 28 colors, and sometimes I feel like it's too few! I never use them all at once, but the pigments have such a range of different properties, and as Lee said, they can also mix totally differently. There are just some colors you can't mix. I love Permanent Brown (PBr25) and have never been able to mix it or replicate how it mixes with other colors. I had to add a magenta and turquoise because I couldn't mix the hue or vibrancy I wanted. Viewing other people's palettes has been really interesting to me as well. It's interesting to see what they view as essential when compared to the standard/basic palette that is recommended to students.