I began just playing around and an hour (and 20 layers ) later, I had a jack o’lantern. I’m working very loose so I’m not sure How things would go if I was to tighten it up. There are scads of lighting issues, but I was all funned out.
I like the implication that the pumpkin is witnessing something magical just out of view.
Inspired by Jon Burgerman, I started this visual excursion as a linear composition in Illustrator, added some color, some texture, then brought it into Photoshop where the mayhem really began. I stacked about 30 layers of various opacities and blending modes, painted with some handmade and standard brushes (occasionally with layer effects) and generally stumbled around until I had something I liked.
Working organically is time consuming but fun. It’s also a good way to develop an eye for creating focus since one decision or set of decisions can send the composition careening in a direction that lacks punch and emphasis. Rather than doing too much subtracting of layers that were counter-productive, I opted instead to adjust the opacity or blend mode, or just add another layer to compensate and correct.
The oleander bush outside the window was the jumping off point for this one—ink and watercolor. I took it into PS and messed around with textures, layers, masks, and shadows/highlights.
Tooling around with a story idea, I sketched a few versions of Sarge. I like this one soI thought I’d walk through some digital inking, coloring, and texturing. For those of you with military knowledge, the uniform is a total fantasy based on poorly remembered war movies and cartoons (mind you own beeswax.) Real research to follow.
Playing around with a basic shape is a great way to play with style, character, and simplification. Maybe I’ll start a new category.
Exploring brush customization to create traditional media effects. I stared some one-point perspective lines and let the scene develop. I’ve been watching more Westerns recently. I just kept building layers of color and let the composition develop. The main figure isn’t the right scale but I liked how he was shaping up and didn’t want to redraw so I added the dark arch on the right to create a new plane that he might occupy somewhat believably.
Beginning with a great photo taken by my cousin in AK, I created this image almost entirely using the History pallete and the History brush in Photoshop. I’ll admit that hitherto I have only glanced at this tool, mostly because of ignorance and thus, an irrational fear. Happily, while reading up on digital illustration techniques my curiosity was piqued and I decided to put my toe into the water of discovery. I’m pretty happy with this first foray and (hoorah) I have a new tool in my arsenal.
If anyone has any techniques or examples that make specific use of the History brush, please share with the class.
I started to doodle and this is what came out. 
I had this idea almost a year ago. It seemed like a good time to rev up illustrator and “flesh” out the concept. The crispness of vector art is attractive to me, probably because my sketches tend to be very rough. I usually use the pen tool exclusively when I do this type of illustration. However, if I’m able to accept the looseness of the pencil tool, it can really speed up the process and add a spontaneity not inherent in the pen tool. I really like J. Otto Siebold’s work because in addition to being extremely complex (his Alice in Wonderland pop-up book is mind boggling), but he balances clarity, precision, and spontaneity.
“Quick, I need a job and an animal”, I said.
“Umm, Donut Maker and an Aardvark”, she replied.
So a construction worker bear it was.
Never mind the dainty back foot.
