Illustrations are telling the background story

work
It is time for the roughs. I got good feedback for my story board and could proceed with working out basics of every page. That means, I will be drawing the characters making them look the same on each page (recognizable), design their clothes, and working out what is happening in the background. I am not putting all the work force in this stage as it still a draft and can undergo major changes. So far, I have been really lucky in the other books, so fingers crossed.

I get to tell a whole background story to a picture. The text gives me the lead on what is happening right now, and I fill in the history. For example, if the text says something like: It's a new day and the kid jumps out of bed all excited, my picture will also tell you if the kid has had a calm or rough sleep (maybe the hair is ruffled), whether it played or read something before the sleep, does it need a glass of water before bed, are there any siblings, favourite toys, preferred colour, boyish or girlsh, and so on.


private project
Inktober2018 - it is going well! 15 days done and 16 to go. Here is the result so far of drawing every day. Each picture took me 1h in total and brought me a handfull of new followers on instagram

Passive income - my aim is to sell prints of my current private projects and invest the money in getting me more time to work. We are talking about being able to pay another morning session in the nursery.

Inktober 2018 "splash" off

Splash!

Monday starts the Inktober challenge 2018 and I will participate with my own prompt list. The topic is toddler routines and I am hoping to create interesting colour-in pages for toddlers with pictures of activities they can identify with and that may help their grown ups to introduce as routine cards.

The tools I will be using are a blue mechanical pencil and a graphite pencil for sketches, fine liners by Staedler and Rotring for the final pictures, and then pen and Rohrers ink for maybe some fancy stuff or fonts.

The Bristol heavy paper by Canson is my absolute favourite for fine liner work. The surface is super silky on touch and the white is absolute. The ink doesn't spread and lines remain crispy sharp. It seems so effortless to slide the liner on the paper and the dried ink looks better than what a printer can press into paper... I am jut in love with it.

Happy inking everyone!

What is INKtober?

Keywords you need to know:

Jake Parker, illustrator and cartoonist, and a business genius. He is dedicated, diligent, and the most disciplined artist I have seen in online media.

Inktober - an ink painting a day, means to get into a habit of painting each day. This improves skills through daily training and sets your mindset into taking art as something that you can work on and not something just for talented people.
See more on: https://inktober.com/

postmortem INKtober 2017

2017

For the last years INKtober I set myself a goal to spontaneously paint whatever, as long as it fits in a 2cm by 2cm box. It didn't even had to be the same topic or style, and could be characters, objects or just patterns. The year before I had a strict list what to paint everyday, and it involved a lot of research for each picture. You can read about it in this blog (see link below).

So last year, it went well to start with, but after about two weeks it became more difficult to come up with something, as I didn't had an aim. Soon house work and baby took over and pictures were pushed to the next day, and promises to finish two in a day if I missed the day started degrading the morality of continuing.

However, it wasn't a waste at all. Just another trial to complete this challenge. You can clearly see what my favorite topic was :-) My little daughter and all her adventures. And this brings me to make this years topic. It's going to be all about toddler and their daily business.

What I will do different compared to the two years before is, that I will make a list, but of things I can probably paint in half n hour without having to research a lot. I will have an overall topic and I have a plan on publishing it either as cards or color-in pages.

What is INKtober?

Keywords you need to know:

Jake Parker, illustrator and cartoonist, and a business genius. He is dedicated, diligent, and the most disciplined artist I have seen in online media
An ink painting a day, means to get into a habit of painting each day. This improves skills through daily training and set your mindset into taking art as something that you can work on and not something just for talented people.
See more on: https://inktober.com/

How it went for me in INKtober 2016

I was determined to complete at least half the list, but I delivered only one weeks worth of pictures over a period of two weeks. The problem was ... read more here

Looking back on Inktober 2016

I was determined to complete at least half the list, but I delivered only one weeks worth of pictures over a period of two weeks. The problem was that I didn't work on them during the weekends, but I should have tried. Another problem was, that each character required at least a two hours session of research and designing, but not every day allowed me the same amount of time to invest into that. One could make a variable list of characters, so that I could choose an easy character on busier days, and the harder characters on free days.

Although it might seem like a fail for this challenge, I still learned a few things about my skills and about the fantasy genre.

• I have a better idea of how heavy armor and leather equipment looks like. 
• Playing around with clothes patterns showed me that I really need a back log, like a vocabulary of patterns, constantly growing in order to be able to pull off quickly new types of fantasy armor.
• I need to absolutely train more drawing poses and bodies. This exercise typically gets least attention, but is the base element that decides whether you are master at your art or an amateur.

 Hope this little diary during inktober was interesting for you, and that you can pick out one or the the other tip for your next challenge.

Thanks for reading

Here is the overview of the pictures I managed for Inktober 2016.

Necromancer Gnom and Wizard Dwarf

Necromancer Gnom

I started researching on Warlock and read that they choose a patron and they make pacts to use the power. When I started drawing I took a very dark turn, imagining him summoning creatures, but I think that was a wrong take. The results shows that I draw a typical necromancer, somewhat creepy and surrounded by death. So day 11 is not a warlock, as promised in my list.

#day11 #inktober #inktober2016 @jakeparker @inktober #DnD #DnDclasses #necromancer #necromancergnom #gnom

Wizard Dwarf

I was very much looking forward to draw a female dwarf. It is rather easy to draw a male one, just give him lots of beard and plates, and so it was a challenge to figure out the right strong stature of a dwarf and give her the nice curves that she deserves. Also challenging was to keep her look strong, but not like a fighter, which I feel is a typical class for dwarfs due to their strength.

Dress

I brainstormed some dressing gown models trying to figure out which one looks feminine but not sexy. I didn't want to put her in a costume that you would expect on an elf, but she shouldn't be completely covered up, like a dwarf has nothing to show. With that I went for a generous cleavage. The pattern on the dress has of course to be celtic style.

#day12 #inktober #inktober2016 @jakeparker @inktober #DnD #DnDclasses #wizard #wizarddwarf #dwarf #femaledwarf

Inktober 2016 week 2

Viewing back on the first week I am satisfied with the artwork I have done. The organization, however, was not optimal and I am still missing the first three days. Keeping up with the list is going well. Some days I have to do more research than on the other days. There are classes which I feel comfortable with, mostly the ones with cloth and leather armor. All the heavy armor and weapon classes are totally out of my comfort zone and I have to learn a lot before I can even start with a sketch. The easier days do feel like having little breaks in between which keeps me motivated.

The list for the second quarter of Inktober is:

1. Ranger Elf (f)
2. Rouge Gnom (m)
3. Sorcerer Human (f)
4. Warlock Necromancer Gnom (m)
5. Wizzard Dwarf (f)
6. Shaman Half-orc (m)
7. Necromancer Warlock Halfling (f)

The first two ones were actually prepared on Monday. I have troubles to catch some free time during the weekend. It is a bit difficult to squeeze in drawing time, when all the other stuff that is piling up during the week (mundane housework) or visiting people finally gets some attention. I don't know yet how to fix this problem, and doing two pictures in a day is too much work with all the research included.

I have prepared a warlock gnome, but will probably jump over the sorcerer and continue directly with the wizard tomorrow.

Ranger Elf

Ranger are in nature by wind and weather, have a proficient knowledge of the animals and are skilled in surviving outdoors. I thought it would be cool to have a snowy scene so I can give her a cool fur coat. As an animal companion I gave her a badger.

Bags and pouches
I wanted to give the ranger lots of bags and pouches to carry on the belt, chest and back. The research for medieval bags was great and I found some really nice pieces I would even like to have myself. But at the end I did not have enough space to draw all of them, the picture is quite small. It would have probably also taken far too long.

#day8 #inktober #inktober2016 @jakeparker @inktober #DnD #DnDclasses #ranger #rangerelf #elf

Paladin Half-Ork

With the Paladin class for day 7, I got my second chance to make a metal armor, and it should be an epic one! Paladins are about aura of God, honor, and heroic fighters, and inspired by eagle, phoenix, and feathers. As a contrast this paladin is a half-orc, a creature with barbaric features of an orc, but figure and intelligence of a human.

Race
The ork is about 180-210 cm tall and bulky, however agile like a human. I researched for faces to find the best features. I think a stubby nose and some fine facial lines are the best mix.

 

Pose
There are many possible poses, all showing a proud and honorable paladin posing in front of the camera. I mean the painter. I found it a bit silly that all of them look like conqueror epic paintings, so I wanted one that looks calm and like standing guard. When I started with the sketch I decided to work out the complete body first, with all the muscles before designing the armor. None of the muscles will be seen, and I normally don't draw the full body as I always pity to have to erase everything again. But I really wanted to be sure that the body looks alright and the muscles take up the correct volume before drawing an epic armor, and that was more important.

Full body model of half-orc before armor

Armor
I researched more careful and longer than I did for the previous fighter (fighter dwarf in my blog), as I needed the information about the build up and appropriate pattern. Most difficult was to figure out how the joints (elbow and knee) are covered and protected, and still mobile. I collected a few examples through my research and copied them. Have a look for cauter, the elbow protector, there have been some really bizarre shapes around in past centuries.

A great collection is for example here:www.medievalwarfare

Plan for the armor of the paladin

 

What I learned from the previous ink drawings

In all of the previous drawings, I started with the face and head, and work down towards feet. And in all of them you can see the quality decreasing towards the feet. I was either getting tired, or uninterested, or the research was missing.

This time, I started designing all the "uninterested" parts first. I sketched the boots and the knees covers (poleyns) and invented a pattern to fit best for them. Then I moved on onto gauntlets and the cauter. For both I wanted the pattern to be phoenix inspired art-deco style with medieval elements.The sketching and researching took a good couple of hours.

When I started with the actual drawing, ( I had the sketch of head and full naked body now) I started with the part that isn't covered by anything. My idea was that the part that sticks out into the camera gets my first attention. Also, most probably the pattern is fully visible and I should be fresh and concentrated. So, I started with the gauntlets, then pauldron, then boots, and so on. Looking back I think that saved me from the mistake I did earlier, that I am too tired. I did the less detailed pieces last, when my energy was dropping. I kept the same order when I refined the sketch with a thicker pencil, and when i started the ink drawing with a fine liner.

final picture

#day7 #inktober #inktober2016 @jakeparker @inktober #DnD #DnDclasses #paladin #paladinhalforc #halforc

Monk Human

Day 6 is a female monk human and I really enjoyed this one. I have strong preferences and visions how a spiritual fighter should look like and that made it easier to choose a wardrobe and pose. I could have used this opportunity to develop a new style and get out of my comfort zone, but the list of classes repeats towards the end of Inktober, and I will use the chance later.

D&D description for weapons mentions a lot of martial art weapons (kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken, siangha) and I would have picked up the nunchakus, but I decided for a meditative pose and gave her only a mystical role holder.

During my research for clothes I found that all D&D monks have an Asian touch, probably because christian monks are not know for fighting, and so I went in the same direction. I took elements I know from Mangas, which influenced my drawing style a lot when I was a teenager. It felt very comfortable to draw her, like revisiting an old school.

#day6 #inktober #inktober2016 @jakeparker @inktober #DnD #DnDclasses #monk #monkhuman #femalemonk

Fighter dwarf

Next on the list is a fighter dwarf and I started the work by researching for weapons and armor. The class is described to be able to handle all weapons, shields, and armors. On the one hand the full freedom to choose is nice, but because I am not very experienced with armor, I decided to do some simpler styles.

Armor
I prefer armor to look functional, and not only for show. This includes that the joints and binding has to make sense and that the shape is possible to be forged. Some research was quickly done and I decided for a scaled shoulder plate (gardbrace), a one piece chest piece (cuirass) with back piece, and pieces to protect the front waist and hips (faulds).

Pose
It should be an attack pose with an axe and I had to find out that there is not much reference on the internet. So, developing the right pose in the perspective I wanted took very long time. I found some  pictures and trained sketching them in order to understand the position of the arms and the view on the axe, and I have one of those wooden dolls with movable joints. However, bringing everything to dwarf size did not work out completely

Preparation for the inktober drawing. On the left hand side are some notes about the D&D class and a few scribbles of armor. On the right hand side is the study of the pose with the axe.

Altogether, it was pretty difficult to get the drawing correct and I will need more time to practice not only fighter poses, but especially different armor and weapons.

#day5 #inktober #inktober2016 @Jackeparker @inktober #DnD #DnDclasses #figher #fighterdwarf #dwarf

Inktober 2016 week 1

I am participating this year's Inktober challenge.

Last year was my first time and it was quite a struggle to come up with a new picture each day. I figured out it would be easier to have a prompt list this year and as I wanted to also use this time to grow my portfolio in a more serious fantasy direction, I decided to draw D&D classes.

The list for the first quarter is

1. Barbarian human (m) 
2. Bard halfling (f) 
3. Cleric human (m) 
4. Druid elf (f) 
5. Fighter dwarf (m) 
6. Monk human (f) 
7. Paladin half-orc (m)

As I am starting just today, I am jumping straight to number 4 and will catch up 1-3 during this week. This way I won't feel I can't catch up the delay, and the list number will fit with the date number.

Druid elf (f)

I find deer horns and fur very fitting for a class that is connected to nature, although I have my doubts about how animal friendly this really is. I just suppose the druid got it as presents from nature through his offerings and services. The armor is minor or missing, her having only bracer made of leather. This way she is lighter, but still has some basic protections. The weapons she carries are a sickle, a typical druid tool, and a hidden scimitar on her right hip. With avoiding armor and weapons showing her bag where she just placing some herbs, I am focusing on the gentle and pacific elements of the druids, like the teaching in herbal and medicine, and talking to showing her bag where she just placing some herbs.

#day4 #inktober #inktober2016 @Jackeparker @inktober #D&D #D&Dclasses #druid #druidelf #elf #femaleelf #femaledruid