Wednesday 26 August 2009

Drawing Bears for Children


On Monday I got down to work again on my Bears on the Stairs picture book artwork. Rather than finishing off the previous pieces, left over from before I did the Edinburgh Festival, I decided to start a new spread, so I could get some momentum back (I find I get slower and slower towards the end of a piece, whereas with pastels, you can quickly cover loads of ground at the start).


Another reason for leaving the finishing off is that, before I could do stripes on the trousers etc, I had to 'fix' things. This can be very disheartening, as it changes the colours and sets you back, but it's necessary, not just to help prevent smudging, but to cleanly lay new pastel over old.

By last night I had got the new spread above done, and the cover finished off (there will be a colour dropped in later instead of the pink):

Today I got another piece nearly done, but ran out of light before I took a photo, so you'll have to wait for that til next time.
There's to be a floral pattern on the lime wallpaper, but I'm not sure about colour, so I have to do some tests.
Hope you like how it's looking so far!

9 comments:

Doug said...

I am really enjoying following along as you create this children's book! Thanks so much for posting your process.

Lynne the Pencil said...

You're welcome - it's interesting that it also gives me an added incentive to make progress. If I'm a slacker, you will all know about it!

cassia said...

no matter how many times you tell me, I'm still amazed at how fast you work.

Loving the bold shapes of this book! Having seen the intricasies (sp?) of your work in the flesh, it must be really nice to draw characters as big and bold as the big bear?

Lynne the Pencil said...

You're not kidding! Although there are still some fiddly bits - whatever possessed me to cover the bedroom door in little dinosaur pictures???

Coralie Colorie said...

Oh yes, we like to know how it is looking so far, and we like to discover how you work !

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cassia said...

lol! I think they were worth it though! :0)

Ira R said...

Love the bears on those stairs!

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thank you folks!