Gouache Resist

A few people have asked me how I achieved the faux-print effect on my You Are What You Eat series, so I thought I'd share/show the process.

I did the series using a gouache resist technique on 500lb arches cold press paper.

I drew out all my lines onto the paper, and then depending on the area, I either painted everything but the lines (all the large white spaces/negative space areas) or painted the lines (the details in the faces).



After waiting for the gouache to completely dry, I dabbed waterproof ink with a brush across the whole surface.



Then waited for the ink to dry. Once the ink is completely dry, I run the paper until the faucet. The result is that the ink on top of the gouache flakes off, while the ink directly on the paper surface stays unharmed.

And that is gouache resist. Its a fun technique, but I don't know if I'll ever use it again in the future. I do like the end look, but I might just stick to white on black from now on.

The Hopefuls

Hopefully, these are the first of a series.

One already planned out (life cycle) and one just for fun (January).

life cycle, 1/3.

January, 1/?.

(also liked the way this looked in black and white)

Anatomical Metaphor [Details]

Details of Bird Brain

click to enlarge

You Are What You Eat

Edgar Allan Poe
Lewis Carroll
Roald Dahl

Click on thumbnails to view at my flicker account

How Sarah Spent her Weekend

This is Geraldine, she's a doll. She's cute, but not too cuddly.

She's crocheted from acrylic yarn, her hair is rooted yarn too. It's very long, and braided into two messy pig tails that like to stick out straight.

She has polyester filling in her head and tummy, but her limbs are empty, and floppy.

To stop her from being a rag doll, she has a spine hidden in the middle of all that polyester. It's the "arm" of a plastic clothes hanger brought home after shopping. It's hooked in place, and helps her sit up straight!

Her eyes are two vintage buttons, her mouth a fabric patch. And at the moment, she is sporting a stitch-marking earring.

Her arms are very long, and her hands really big. She has no shoes on her feet, but she will! And at the moment, Geraldine doesn't know if she wants eyebrows or not.

It took about twenty hours to create Geraldine. She isn't completely complete, but she's content. And perhaps next weekend, she will gain some friends. :)

School Work: Character Sketches

First assignment for Children's Book Illustration
this year was to sketch 10 pages of character/landscape/object studies
for the poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field.

Although its a very basic assignment, it ended up being quite a challenge for me. Just like last year, I was not dedicated enough to the characters. In the end, I didn't do a very thorough character design. The environments, and trying to put the story together, was of more interest to me.

Reading the poem, its obvious it is about sleep. Trying to wrap in sleep with reality, a dream world with a real world, is what I focused on trying to tackle.



Looking back, a page should have been dedicated to showing the three fisherman as their dream gnome selfs, and as their selfs as real boys in pajamas with sleeping caps. Ah, retrospect.

Sorry for the low quality images, just wanted to get this up, and with it being cloudy or not having time in the mornings, the lighting isn't the best for photos.

Anyways, here are some details:




*click thumbnails to see full size images*