March 5, 2019

The Bird Couple Illustration Process

I created this sketch of an older couple as part of an assignment for a backgrounds class I took through SVSLearn. I decided to finish it out and submit it as part of their monthly drawing prompt challenge (the prompt word for February was the word "love"). Around the time that I started the class I began to stream my art on twitch so i was able to capture a lot of the process as I worked through this illustration. Here's a little behind-the-scenes look at my illustration:

‍

This picture shows an older couple. It is the grandma's birthday and her husband knows how much she loves birds so he got her a brand new bird feeder. Grandma is completely immersed in the birds landing on the feeder outside while Grandpa looks on, satisfied by the excited reaction she is having to his gift.

‍

This was my original sketch that I submitted to Brian Ajhar for feedback on SVSLearn

‍

I took the feedback that Brian provided and edited the sketch. The character shapes are a bit more defined and the couch is a little less modern.

‍

This speed paint shows mosssssssst of my process. When I started painting the color it really wasn't working out so I spent a little time working it out off-stream. That part didnt get recorded so at about the 6 minute mark you'll see the color go from looking really ba to pretty good.

‍

The final illustration

<< Back to blog

If you liked this story, here's some more you could try:

It's been a crazy year

I haven't been posting much in the past 18 months. This silence is not due to me throwing in the towel on my goal to become a children's book writer and illustrator. In fact, quite the opposite is true. This update is a little peek behind the curtain of what I've been up to and where I'm headed.

Experimenting with Pencils

I've been working on integrating traditional pencil line work into my digital illustrations. Here is an overview of my process and results.

Finding Critiques