Coloured light sources are tricky

Work
The storyboard for "Africa" is finished and send in. I will be waiting for the comments. In the mean time I am working on some Ankara pattern. It will be a very colorful book!

Exercise
There is not much to say. I am continuing my training in shading and lighting and have at least two things to focusing on atm.

- Is the object 3D and correct? Did I get the right shape, did I block in the correct shades and lights parts? Do I communicate the right information about the object?

- Including special light sources. I am trying to understand how colour influences each other and am including some special effects. So, for example, this girl (foto below) with her orange shirt is sitting next to some apparent blue light and her orange top and skin tone will be influenced. I can't just mix orange and blue, as this will give me a muddy green and I have no experience how it looks in real life. So I am looking at light color wheel. The colours mix different when they are coming from a light. We remeber that taking all colours together we will get white. So, I am trying to figure out what colour I would see if I get to mix orange light and blue light... gray, turquoise?

Do the colours show different light sources? The blue light from the letters shines on her neck and through the t-shirt arm. But will it really hit all the folds in the same strength as I painted it here?

Are the values correct? Check in black and white if the shades are strong enough and if the object feels 3D. Here the folds are fine, but the whole shirt does not appear to wrap around her body. It needs to be a bit darker around the tummy area.

Strong tint water colour and lighting exercise

work
I finished book JO (JO is a working alias), a story about a family that is just the mum and son, in August. The proofs have been send back to me for a check and everything looked fabulous. Now we just have to wait for the printing production. I am sitting on hot charcoal and can't wait to share the pictures, once the book is published.

The next book project is about the African culture. I did a handful messy paintings as a warm up training and posted them here below.

There is a big difference to my usual art. My usual pictures are quite pale, which was alright for Caucasian babies. To be honest I was always a bit worried to ruin the picture with a wrong placed shadow so I would work with very light washes. But that just wouldn't work for dark skinned babies. I had to soak my brush in paint and just go for it. And if you are not confident enough, they say "fake it till you make it!" And that is what I played by. The result is quite alright.

exercise
Time to get that value right! I have been watching these videos by top artists explaining value, and shade, ambient light, direct light, core shadows, cast shadows.... It's a whole library of words, and I am slowly getting the grips of a hand full of them.

In my work I just started to separate the way I deal with form shadow v.s. cast shadow. The first is to bring the 3-D feeling of the object to life, and the latter is to bring that object into context with the surrounding, where an other object throws a shadow on to it, or itself is throwing a shadow on other things. The little picture below shows the difference.

These shadows are influenced by the light around them of course, so I always have to ask where is the light source and what parts of the object does it hit?

It involves a lot of thinking at the beginning, but I am sure it will become natural soon.

sleep deprived, but 10 mini paintings richer

work
Painting painting painting... I have set myself a quota for book JO and came up with 10 paintings per week. This could be characters, object, plants, backgrounds. That really helps me to know where I am and to reach the deadline comfortably. It has to been done, as I planed my vacation two weeks after the deadline. So, there is a bit of a breathing room, but only a bit.

It was really difficult to reach the aim and I had to work every night til midnight, so I feel slightly sleep deprived. The trick was to have several paintings at the same time, so while one dries I could work on another. Also, I mixed up the stages of layering. For example, I finished the faces completely (shades and pencil), then I did clothes, and different parts of the clothes. To be honest, for me the finishing part with pencil is the most exciting one.

I didn't get fed up of painting and I made it! I could send in my first preview in on time. The editor and author are happy, so I am happy. I wish I could show you something, but it is an absolute no no for ongoing projects and you have to wait until the book is printed.

Book MO has not started yet. I am waiting for the approval of the new contract and it looks like I have to study a bit "lawyer"-english. While I am waiting, I will be collecting some notes for the story board, as there has been some additional comments on what should be in the illustration.

Exercise

I found new videos to watch. This time it is all about good water color work. Check out Liron Yanconsky and The Mind of Watercolor on youtube.

Private

I have to share with you the lovely painting my baby daughter made. I let her play with my little travel kit (under supervision of course) and the brush pen. She is only 1,5y but loves testing the colours. She went in all the color pots at once, so I had to guide her a little. She also tends to smash the brush on the paper... and to prevent that, I was just holding her little elbow up, so she would be able to have a relaxed wrist. That really helped her to use the brush properly. I am so proud of my little artist