Character Design from the Ground Up by Kevin Crossley

Character Design from the Ground Up by Kevin Crossley

Author:Kevin Crossley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Ilex Press
Published: 2014-03-04T16:00:00+00:00


Pencil sketches of zombie dogs are scanned into Photoshop.

The layout of the composition is sketched digitally, incorporating the penciled dogs.

This digital sketch was then printed onto tabloid (A3) paper. I placed a sheet of Bristol board over this, held it to a window, and used daylight to trace a copy onto the art board. (A lightbox is useful for this kind of work, but as long as you don’t work at night, you can get by just fine using this method.) Finally I let loose with the pencils once more to produce a devilishly detailed final pencil render. I kept it quite loose and rough; it was going to be inked so it didn’t have to look too polished. As an aside, if you look carefully you’ll notice little Xs here and there. This is something I learned from my comic book artist friends: It’s simply an indicator of which areas will be solid black during the inking stage. When I finally started to ink over this pencil the volumes are defined, and the whole thing starts to come to life. Or undeath, depending how the zombie dog master might see it. A white-ink pen is then used to erase and “eat” back into the ink to create dramatic texture and finishing details.

This method of going back and forth between the pencil, ink, and Photoshop is something that never fails to creatively satisfy and inspire me. It’s also a reminder that the software is just a tool, a mere link in the chain of creation, and a piece of art should never be judged by the process rather than the execution or idea.



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