I have been improving my consistency with ‘planning’ illustrations more. I can’t promise to do it every time, but whether it be for myself or for a client, actively making decisions at the sketchy end of things rather than plunging in blind (not saying I don’t do this, I do, and sometimes I’m lucky) and hoping I’ll come back to the surface with two live lungs and a decent picture. So below I’ve added my initial rough sketch, halfway-through and finished artwork. Although I usually hate how ugly the sketches are, they do hold the basic magic, and as you can see, I pretty much stuck to it. I often do this with client work, especially when designing, to ensure I’m going in the right direction and not wasting any time…..so why not foster my side projects in the same way?

Time lapse

I began a lot of monochrome work last year, reluctantly……the lack of colour means working harder on other things…..the light and shadow, the contrast. I think it has been good practice, and there is something about the black and white which transports an image backwards in time. This piece needed to do exactly that. Patent t bar shoes, glorious snails and the ominous shadow of an ancient river man…….I wanted photo realism and grainy texture of a black and white photograph, but with elements of the supernatural. I drew up everything with a spray can brush (see half way pic), and then went to town with a variety of splatter-style brushes. A great brush set for creating soft and almost out of focus speckled effect is ‘Splash’ and has become a fixed go-to in my Procreate toolbox. I’ve wanted to be more experimental with perspectives and compositions….so in this piece we are the viewer and the figure which casts the shadow. Creating just the right amount of slime glisten was my favourite part. I also like the power of anonymity as it lends to the horror genre and allows our imaginations to do some of the work- it’s inside our heads that the real weird stuff happens.

Feeling at home in monochrome……..

©KARIS HARRINGTON 2024