Thursday 15 October 2009

The Photoshop Frenzy: Cut-Outs


I was working so flat out last weekend, I didn't get time to explain properly what it was all about. Having blogged Bears on the Stairs through the entire project, from the very first rough sketches, it seems a shame to miss the end, so here goes:

There is a certain amount of 'finishing' work to be done in Photoshop, before the book can be proofed. Some illustrations are fine and ready to print, but not all. Like the cover I showed you previously, the title page image above needed to be cut from the pink paper I draw on.

Both the koala spreads also needed cutting out, and then popping onto bright colours. I'm thinking yellow and bright pink...

The pastels make this job quite tricky though. Here's a detail from the original scan and the first stage of putting in the new background:

Once the new bright pink is in, it shows up all sorts of problems that need touching up, like the nasty pencil lines around the white bannisters and the boy's pyjamas, the 'noise' under his arm and the furry edges around his fingers:

It takes quite a while, working my way around every edge, checking for touch-ups.

There are a couple of other jobs to do at this stage too, but I'll tell you about them next time.

8 comments:

Marianne M said...

HI Lynne,
I've really enjoyed following the progress of your work for this book. It's really interesting to see how you approach the work. I work in pastel as well, so these closer looks at the touch-up work are really interesting to me.

Thanks for sharing!

M J Muir said...

Dear Lynne Chapman
This is soooooo interesting. You are wonderful for sharing your process with us.
Thank you so much.

Jill said...

This is so fascinating - I would never have guessed how many processes are gone through in creating a picture book, I will echo previous comments -thank you for taking the time to share.

Lynne the Pencil said...

You're welcome! I'm glad you're finding it interesting.

About said...

Hi Lynne...thanks for you comment. Its really great to discover your blog. I find it very interesting, great to see the variety of work you do, bet the kids love having you visit their schools!
Hope you feel back to full health soon.

granny grimble said...

Nearly there Now! Can't wait to get my copy

Emily said...

This is really interesting insight although I assume it's a rather mundane part of the process... Thanks again for sharing!
Cheers!
Emily

ps... gotta love em bears! :)

mariadiamantes said...

thank you! you have a great and funny work!!!
i like it!!!