Monday: new and finished illustrations

Seal finally finished one of her past black and white illustration from a previous Saturday Process post and wanted to share the final piece above. She decided to use graphite pencil (Prismacolor black, Pitt graphite HB, 3B, & 6B) in order to achieve the grainy film look. Compare the smoothness of the marker value study (left bottom) to the grainy pencil texture (above). In her final piece she pushed the contrast and made the darks really dark and the lighted area almost a washed out light. She wanted to frame the two figures within the shape of the doorway.

She first toned the entire paper with a medium 50% gray. Then she added all the dark values first and subtracted the lights by using an electric eraser. The electric eraser is very good in making bold highlights and sharp edges. Seal recommends Straedler or Helix brand. Straedler has a stronger motor, but bigger edge, and less control. Helix has a weaker motor, small tip, and if it doesn't die out on you, is actually very good for control.

Values (lights and darks) can really add to the storytelling aspect of a piece. Seal chose the gargoyles to be really dark almost disappearing into the background of the night, to portray a sinister, shadowy, and mysterious/ambiguous voyeuristic figure.
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As an artist, Seal really enjoys the research process. She is now currently learning about Egyptian architecture. Below is a sneak peak at her most recent in progress illustration.


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