THE PROCESS

 I have a quirky way of illustrating. It started years ago before I owned a Mac or Photoshop I would copy drawings I had done with a Zerox and enlarge them and place them on large canvases to paint in front of large audiences while a live band played. In truth the idea might of sprouted from a Star Trek Clorforms set.

You remember them...You took thin plastic cut out of figures and furniture and stick it to a background scene.

So what I do is draw the figures' faces on one paper large enough to get the details. Then the bodies on another. If I keep the paper smaller than 11" x 14" I can fit it on my scanner. If I did the whole image on one sheet that could fit on the scanner the faces would be too small. God love what Howard Pyle could do in such a small space, but I can't... Then I can draw the backgrounds.

I like to scan the drawings before I paint them, just in case. If I screw up a painting, I can reprint it and start again. Then they are brought into Photoshop and I play with an electric Colorforms. Only difference now is I can shrink or enlarge the figures and furniture. I move things around until I get the right composition and the save it. Then years later after looking at it in a book for awhile and I don't like it, I can rearrange things or add new figures.

So take a look below and watch the process. Enjoy!

 

Cheers,
~Chris

To find out more about Chris Dowgin and his books feel free to visit Salem House Press at www.salemhousepres.com.