BRIAN READY FOR HIS CLOSE-UP
The book opens on a wide establishing shot that pushes closer and closer in as you turn the pages. By the third page turn you land on a close-up of Brian, intensely focused and peering through his telescope. Hit play to watch the time-lapse of the drawing.
tiny sketch
This illustration started out as the quick sketch pictured above. I thought it had the right energy and proportions, but it was a teeny tiny sketch, and for the close-up I needed a large drawing of Brian's face in order to fill the page. Often it's impossible to recapture the spontaneity of a sketch, and after a couple of attempts I just blew up the tiny thing, printed it out, and that became my starting point for this illustration. I think I'm going to do more of that in the future. That's me tracing the sketch in the first few seconds of the video. My glass desktop also makes a great light table. I recommend it!
final black and white
I used India ink for the hair and to get some deep shadows. The rest of the drawing is graphite. Stay tuned for the next post--the coloring process that follows in the computer.
It's easy to share our Making of a Picture Book posts through the share links below!