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Drawing, Inking, and Animating Stream-of-Consciousness Illustrations Posted on Sunday, June 7, 2009

I mentioned on the news posting where I announced the completion of Nourished that I would write a blog about my process for creating my stream of consciousness illustrations. I am excited to share the process with anyone who may be interested. This entry is divided into sections discussing style development, the drafting phase, the inking phase, and some progress towards animating these illustrations for a music video.

Developing The Illustration Style

I suppose this style of drawing started when I was in high school. I picked up a blank journal and doodled abstract patterns on different pages. After that, I started to include representations in my doodles. The technique started with my pencil and some free time. The choice of “things” to place in these sketches came from various sources, but I mostly got a kick out of meshing disparate subject matter into a whole. That was the challenge for me, and I considered it a game. Here are some early scans of these sketches from my journals.

While browsing the aisles in my local art store, I came across a set of grey scale Prismacolor Art Markers. When I found them I thought they might provide more definition to my sketch work, and still allow me to shade. I decided to give them a try. Some of the first images I made after purchasing the marker set are shown here.

After creating these, I wanted to develop the style further and formalize my drawing process. I purchased some Bristol illustration paper in different sizes, and an assortment of 48 colored Prismacolor Art Markers. I figured adding color could make these more interesting and alive. The next phase focused on formalizing the drawing process.

Drawing: Divide and Conquor

The drawing phase of these illustrations is done in a stream of consciousness tradition, but I take a "divide and conquor" approach when initiating the work. The inking & coloring phases are executed with more discipline.

I begin with illustration board, a pencil, and some music. I like Strathmore’s Bristol illustration paper with a smooth finish, and I use a Staedtler lead holder with a soft lead. Indeed, staring into a blank page can prove daunting, and then comes a realization that I am headed for a new adventure. Similar to how computer software generates visuals from sound input, these illustrations are in some regard influenced by music. Suzie Silver encouraged me to listen to music while drawing; after one of her Image & Sound classes she asked: “Don’t you ever just listen to music and draw lines?” She did, after all, introduce me to Oskar Fischinger's work—the “grandfather” of visual music.

I find that music influences my gestures, and lyrics can influence my choice of subject matter. When I hear a particular lyric I may decide to draw a symbol of what I think the lyric signifies. In some regard, I relate the song to the drawing like a word association exercise.

At first, broad pencil strokes define the major sections of the image. I’ll draw lines from one edge of the page to another, or create large abstract shapes that resemble a familiar form. In this way, I break down the page into manageable areas. These areas are then split into “windows” that peer into the whimsical world of the llustration. The windows are not rectangles per se, but they divide the manageable areas into pseudo-storyboard panels representing a quixotic narrative.

Next, I begin to fill in those areas with more detailed shapes. Initially, they represent nothing. After a few moments of examining their form, I ask: “What could this shape possibly be? Could it be this, or that, or the other.” An analogous mode of thought is when imagining a cloud to represent something familiar. Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (1993) also influenced me in this regard. In chapter two, when writing about symbols, a few panels really hit home for me. He writes about transforming irregular, closed, shapes into perceivable faces. Take a look at the panels here--click to enlarge. I highly recommend reading through his book.

Creating faces from the first shapes is an easy way for me to start building the detail of these illustrations, but there are alternatives to transforming the shapes from an abstraction to a representation. Arbitrarily defining a curve as a hill, a circle as a sun, or an empty space as an ocean will also do the trick.

As the general shapes fill out, I draw iconic symbols for clouds, trees, mountains, sunsets, fish, fruits, bugs, sky scrapers, etc. I’ll also draw symbols and "pregnant moments" exemplifyng concepts and themes that interest me.

If I do not immediately perceive a closed shape to signify something, I will typically create a pattern—usually comprised of stripes—within that closed space. This presents an opportunity for me to later explore color in a rhythmic way. As well, stripes tend to strengthen contours, and they give me the impression that the shape contours emerged with the help of a jig.

In some cases a ruler, compass, or a french curve is used to guide my hand’s motion. Some of the illustration's subject matter calls for tools that reduce the risk during the drawing phase, while other subjects call for tools that introduce a good deal of risk. For example, I will use a ruler when I want to emphasize a technologic form, but I trust my hand for organic contours. Essentially, a particular mode of execution is selected based on the nature
of the subject matter.

By the time the drawing comes to an end, I will have a rough idea of the illustration’s title.

Inking: Finding Rhythm

This is the most disciplined phase of the process. I use Copic’s Multiliner SP ink pens to trace over pencil work. Tracing pencil sketches with ink means that lines gain strength and precision. It also signifies a commitment to those particular parts of the illustration. In some cases, I find it useful to make certain lines bolder than others—either to correct an inaccurate trace, or to emphasize particular areas. I’ll also ink new lines to add missing detail. After outlining I'll begin to color.

Initially, I focused on achieving color contrast in various parts of the work. To do that, I selected clashing hues as much as possible. I began to understand that the illustration’s vibrancy was determined by the amount of clashing schemes used throughout. I have always found it fascinating that an eye’s pupil will expand or contract depending on the amount of light entering the eye. With my illustration work, I consider the eye’s physiological response system. Clashing color schemes seem to make the eye work physically harder, and can energize an image.

It took me a bit longer to devise color schemes that could ease the eye around particular forms within the illustration. Monochromatic and analogous color schemes appear to cause less work for the eye. There’s nothing more pleasant than a carefully designed color combination that shows color in progression.

To create these schemes, I designed and built a custom marker holder. I figured that simply looking at the markers resting in the holder would speed up my color selection. I wanted the holder to operate like a color swatch window in a computer graphics application. Looking at a grid of swatches seems to help me choose color schemes faster. Also, I wanted to store the markers horizontally because upright markers dry faster. My local hardware store stocked the hardware needed to construct it.

Sometimes I’ll choose color schemes based on “paths” traversed around the markers. I might choose colors arranged in a diagonal line, horizontal line, in staircase form, or in an “L” shape. A printed map of the arrangement helps me remember the names of specific colors in the combination. I’ll test the schemes as thumbnails in my notebook, and label the color with their names. It gets a bit more nuanced when figuring a “color-wheel” sequence for a really nice gradient. After I find a scheme that works, I’ll record it to my notebook and give it a fitting name.

How I choose to apply the color schemes influences the illustration’s visual rhythm. In one set of stripes I’ll repeat a color combination while for a different set, I’ll iterate through the set only once. This choice is influenced by the amount of stripes, as well as how I want to affect the viewer when they look at a particular form.

As much as I am a fan of markers, their ink simply does not mix smoothly. To fake smooth transitions between marker colors, I will lay down ink in a rapid and repetitive nature—almost in an impressionistic way. The result implies a smooth transition the farther away the image is from the viewer. Here are some
closeups of this technique.

An alternative to creating smooth color transitions is to bring in colored pencil. Mixing the flat textures of marker with the smooth texture of pencil can make the illustration more nuanced in terms of depth and shading.

I try to maintain a healthy balance of color in these illustrations. Color selection becomes more challenging as the project nears completion. On a blank page, anything can go, but when so much color is present, which hue makes sense for that last little bit? Finding an appropriate color can take more time than I expect. The process can get, dare I say, stressful.

When color selection is complete, I take a break from the illustration before shading it. I find it beneficial to step away from the work in order to see it with fresh eyes. This phase is really quite fun because I can witness the illustration emerge into a mature form, and I enjoy designing various effects during the shading process. The grey scale marker sets provide an easy way to develop a value system for shading. To shade, I’ll color over an existing color with 20% gray, then 40%, then 60%, and so on. It's also works to use two or three shades of a hue. After the shading is complete, some final touch ups are added to fill in empty specs. The work is then complete!

Looking Ahead To Animation

My goal for this illustration style involves bringing it to the animation medium. If I make the illustrations in layers, it would improve the prospect of animating these worlds. The problem is that the core of the illustration style comes from the "streaming" nature of the drawing phase. I suspect that I need to trace over individual elements in a existing illustration and create new, smaller, illustrations based off of that element. Doing that would provide enough planes of action whereby I could add depth to the animation.

In starting this endeavor, I would first block out areas of the illustrations I wanted to focus on. I started to cut a video of cropped areas of the illustrations to
Adam Yauch's beautifully performed "I Don't Know" from The Beastie Boys' 1998 Hello Nasty album. I like how the song's chorus matches the sequence of the visuals. You can watch the video here.

In addition to this rough cut,
some former students of mine experimented with techniques to animate these illustrations.
Tyler Wiethorn animated various isolated elements. He did a fantastic job isolating them and devising a technique to fill in "holes" after they were cut out. He also experimented with placing these elements in z-space and using a camera to follow those elements. Michael Ortiz took the distortion transition I devised to an extended level. Essentially the effect is generated by using the built in
CC Flo Motion effect that ships with Adobe After Effects CS3.

I need to carve out some time to tackle the technical obstacles getting in the way of animating these drawings in an efficient manner. Ideally, it would be great to combine all of these experiments into a well crafted production for a music video. So much to do, and so little time. We’ll see where it all ends up. Thanks for reading, and feel free to stop by my online store to purchase a print of an illustration.