5 WALKTHROUGH OF MY PROCESS

Previously, I’ve described how I approach my sketch work. Here, I’ve broken down my sketching process into two steps. I kick things off with a basic block-in. I might have a prepared textural background that I pre-paint or I’ll just paint it during this step. Then I add the larger shapes and start to work out the composition and the story in the scene. The textures that I paint give the illusion of more detail present in the image then there really is. Some stuff like the figures are just scribbled blobs at this point.

Now that I have my story planned out, I begin to fully realise it…. or realise it just enough so that it’s clear to the viewer. I add some lighting breaking through the tree foliage. Well, foliage that you really don’t see. You only have the light hitting the ship and the small little clump of tree foliage in the foreground to inform the viewer of the space that’s outside the picture frame.

Little design tricks such as this add scope to something that, on the surface, is pretty simple. The viewer’s mind then works to fill in those gaps with the little hints and bread crumbs that I leave for them. I let the viewer’s own imagination do some of the heavy lifting. As a result, they also feels more committed to the image and the story that it’s trying to tell.