Friday, March 11, 2011

Experiment with color--feedback appreciated

I love working with color. Generally, I use colored pencils. But since I layer them until they shine, and since I like to add texture with a hard pencil atop the wax of the pencil, they don't scan well. The light from the scanner will pick up on sheens that are not intended, making the image look rippled. I've tried using illustration board, but there is not enough tooth to hold the amount of the medium I want to add.

Hence my black and white images...

Here I've experimented with digital color on top of a pencil illustration.  What do you think? I fear that too many people do not appreciate a good black and white drawing and always ask when will I color it.

"The Animal Parade--Color" Pencil with Digital Color. Copyright 2011 Jessica Boehman
Feedback appreciated.

6 comments:

  1. I think the color looks nice, you should definitely keep it as an option. :-)
    -Amy Boehman-Pollitt

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  2. I love your Black&White drawings. I think there is room for everything. Just think of Shaun Tans amazing work!
    Personally I would either leave the drawings as they are, or do an alternative version in colour, maybe using different techniques (watercolour, colour pencil and gouache maybe?) to get the colour depth you need?
    I personally don't like digital work too much but I see many people using it as a tool to enhance or fix their work. Maybe it could help with your colour pencil illustrations?

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  3. Honestly I am not too sure about the color done in this digital manner. My colored pencil images are heavily layered and have graphite added for texture, but it just doesn't reproduce. In person, it looks really interesting, but I can't figure out how to scan or photograph it and have it pick up the detail without causing shine.

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  4. Hi there,
    I was thinking about this… Here in Dublin there is a photographer who is specialising in taking photos of Artists paintings and then printing them on high quality paper for them. They sell these as limited Art Prints. So maybe the solution to your problem – the sheen on colour pencil work - would be (professional) photos rather than scans?

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  5. That's an option...it's certainly more expensive, but if the work is large enough and limited enough, I could charge enough to sell them.

    Thanks for the tip! I've recently come back into illustration after a very long hiatus when I was pursuing my Ph.D. in art history, so I feel like I'm a novice.

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  6. I wish I had a Pd.D in art history! :o)
    I'm a novice too by the way but I guess in a way we all are and never stop learning
    Good luck with your colour work!

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