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Entry tags:	art, photos, process

How a Haikujaguar Sketch Becomes a Painting
I was surprised at how many of you didn't know how I work... and several of you expressed interest in knowing more. So, behind the cut you'll find a photo-riffic explanation.

I draw a lot. I used to use sketchbooks for rough drafts or to explore ideas that I would then plan and execute properly on large art paper... but as Real Life intruded, I started simplifying. My sketchbooks became the place I put all my ideas, finished or not.



So my problem became: when you have so much material and you have it trapped in an unsuitable format, how do you get it from there to one that is suitable? And this is a problem, because as everyone knows, the more obstacles you put between yourself and sitting down to finish something (anything, art or not!), the more excuses you have to not finish it. This is why my attempts at the traditional methods of art transfer were failures. I could do the "trace it with carbon paper" method, I could do the "project it with an opaque projector and trace it" method, but in each instance it was so much extra work that I tossed in the towel long before I got to the "tail in chair" part of the project. My goal was to minimize the effort between "I like this sketch!" and "I can finish this sketch!" So I batted around ideas with elusivetiger, and with his help found a way to do this.

Enter technology! Take "Just Because," since it's been on my mind.


I started with a foreground image in my sketchbook which I liked.


...and noticed that I had no room for a proper background, as is often the case with a 9x12 sketchbook. So I thought about what I wanted the finished composition to look like and spent time on a background on a separate page until I had it where I wanted it.


Both pieces get scanned.


In Photoshop, I composite the pieces together. Note that not all pieces go through this step... some have backgrounds on the same page. But I've found using Photoshop layers to put things together frees me from the "Whoops, I really liked this sketch but I have no room for a background, oh well, guess I'll skip it!" excuse. (Recall that my goal at this point is to minimize all effort between me and sketches I can finish, so the elimination of excuses is very important.)

Once compositing is done (if it's needed) I set the levels on the piece to very very very pale gray, so that the lines are barely visible. I don't even ink these pieces anymore, because the lines are so light that you can't tell if they're inked or not. This gets rid of the "I guess I'd have to ink this to scan it properly!" excuse.



And now the printer. I used to use an Epson 1270 (and used it faithfully for eight years!). This required some effort on my part because it didn't really like taking thick paper stocks, but I found I could nurse my watercolor paper through the paper path and usually (usually!) get a clean print-out. Several of you have asked what kind of printer you can use for this purpose, and my experiments have found that the Epson dye-based printers (like my 1270) work, and now this Epson pigment-based printer (which hyanan lent me until I can buy one) both produce print-outs on my Arches watercolor paper that don't smear when you add water and paint.

You absolutely have to try it on any other printer, though. Some inks do smear, and some printers don't take some kinds of paper either because of thickness or because of their surface, and some will produce smearing on some paper but not others, and some have black inks that smear but the color inks don't... I can only tell you that the two Epsons I've used have worked. hyanan's is better because it's meant to run watercolor paper and canvas, so it doesn't have problems with the thick watercolor block paper... and because it's the largest size you can get without having to shell out significant money for plotter-sized printers. I like to work big; 13x40 is about the largest you can get without leaving the consumer printer market.

When I finish accumulating the money, I'll go buy this printer. But anyway, on with the story:


The result of this process is something I call a blueline, probably from growing up with a mechanical engineer for a father. The bluelines get stacked in a corner for when I'm feeling like I want to finish something but don't know what. I can print them out several times if I totally mess up, but if you know how expensive watercolor paper is you know you want to avoid this if at all possible. The single sheet that "Just Because" got printed onto was about $5, if I remember right.


The blueline goes moved to the painting table to be finished.

This process works for me. Why? Because almost every excuse I can come up with is wiped out by it:

I don't have paper around. Just draw in your sketchbook, you already have lots of those.

I like this sketch, but don't have room for a background. Put the background on another page.

I don't want to clean it up or ink it. Don't. You won't be able to tell anyway.

I don't feel like transferring it. You don't have to. You'll create the file you'll use when you scan it for your website.

It's too large/too small/on the wrong part of the page. Just change the size or crop it in Photoshop.

At this point, if I like something, there's almost no barrier between my having drawn it initially and my finishing it. And that means more things get finished.


And that's how I use computers in art. And why I need to get this printer... at some point!


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