Illustration Work in Process

The amazing draw/erase/draw/erase process

Here are sketches for various projects I have going right now. All are currently getting “approved” (or “disapproved”) by the publisher. As soon as I hear back I’ll start work on the finals. The deadline is mid-July so I’ll need to work quickly. The finals will be done in acrylic with some color pencil touches here and there. I’ll post a few “in progress” images over the next few weeks.

For those interested in the details of the process, this is generally how I work. I do sketches using just a .05 mm mechanical pencil (HB or 2H lead) on smooth bristol. I lightly block in the areas, and as things I like emerge I’ll apply more pressure to the pencil. Using my kneaded eraser I erase most everything, until I can only see the darker lines of areas I liked. I do this back and forth several times, lightly sketching and searching for something that works, pressing harder on the things I like and want to keep, then erasing everything. Bristol is great because it’s very durable. By the time I’ve gotten to the point these sketches are at I’ve erased everything several times. Kneaded erasers are nice because they don’t leave eraser “dust”.

When most everything is where I want it I’ll go in with a darker ebony pencil and outline a bit. Everything will be covered by paint when I’m done so I don’t concern myself with stray lines.