Sunday, July 19, 2009

Bad Rain - what I am aiming for


As Stephen has borrowed a picture from me I thought I would do the same from here, exchange is no robbery and all that. He is the artist behind this image, and this is what I am trying to recreate. I am only using commercial quilting fabrics, so I won't be getting a perfect colour match. However I do think I should be able to capture the essence of the image. I have discovered a lot more detail in the picture than I had noticed when I saw it in the book. There are huge variations in the pencil strokes, that will be a huge challenge to reproduce. The most problematic areas are the human faces. They are very small relative to the whole piece but very important. I am happy that I have got them just big enough to render them. I have to admit I am really enjoying working on this. It is very different for me, but I like the locks of colour I am using then adding the 'inks' over the top. Look out for more updates tomorrow, remember I am on a very tight schedule with this one.

2 comments:

Nic said...

Interesting to hear about the thought needed to reproduce the different line widths in thread.

Of course line width is easy in brush or pencil - so easy you don't think about it :) but it conveys a lot in comic art.

Does this, in a way, make this kind of needlework closer to tattooing I wonder?

Ferret said...

I hadn't thought about it until I needed it for the dragon. I have to do it by going over the line multiple times. On Glenn's drawing a standard line seemed to be 3 repeats, but Stephens need 4 or 5. I think that is the art style, the lines are heavier in comic art. However I still find lines which only want going over once. This needs some planning if I don't want to keep breaking my thread.

I did say to Glenn I thought this was more tattoo like. I don't think he was convinced though. It's definitely very different to the other quilting I have done and to drawing with a traditional tool.