One of the best things about being an older and more experienced illustrator is that I have a lot of tools in my tool kit. I can make better decisions about what medium to use on which surface.
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| Star Map Inspiration |
I’ve chosen the create a star map as part of my book cover
illustration. The inspiration is a Tibetan Star map I found online. Because the
map is highly technical I felt that paint wouldn’t be the right medium for it. I’ve
used colored pencils on dark paper many times with great success. So I decided
to do some color tests to see if that would be the right medium and surface for
this piece.
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| Some of my colored pencil pieces on medium and dark Canson papers. |
As it turned out the Prismacolors weren’t giving me the effect
that I wanted. The colors were too dull, and the color harmony was off. I
experimented with Neocolor II Aquarelles, next. They worked better, giving me
the pop of color I needed with the added benefit that you can sharpen them for
technical work.
As Canson paper won’t hold up for wet media, I dug out a
sheet of black Stonehenge paper. This heavier paper can handle light and medium
washes just fine and will be a better match for the Neocolors. Another
advantage to using these watercolor crayons is that I’m able to give the girl’s
face a more painterly look.
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| Color Design Tests for the Book Cover |
Art is no mystery. It’s a series of carefully considered
decisions.
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