Regular readers of this blog, and people who have seen me speak, already know that I like to use as much reference as possible for my illustrations, from photographs to...models:
Turns out it's really difficult to find good pictures of blue whales. I guess they're to big to photograph. There are a lot of good illustrations of them out there, and those were helpful, but what really helped me on this book was a nine-inch-long plastic blue whale toy. I think you'll understand why when you see more illustrations from the book.
And, as I often do, I sculpted a little model of the titular character, Billy. He's made out of Sculpey and painted with acrylics.
More soon.
9 comments:
Awesome jawsome. I am stoked for this one.
Fantastic reference. It's amazing what a difference reference can make.
I am glad someone else does that!
While I did paintings for my last book which was about a horse, not only did I have a couple little toy Breyer horses to look at, I often had one clutched in my left hand while painting.
Is that strange?
Look forward to seeing the book!
Very interesting to see what you use for your models.
The cover looks awesome!
I really should try using more reference instead of making stuff up out of my head. I'm sure my lighting and form would be much better.
Thanks, everyone!
I have a Breyer horse here in the studio for reference as well, Christine!
Dan–shut yer yap, your stuff is the tits.
I think we had that same plastic whale for years, until finally it was run over by the lawnmower.
Or you could have set up shop under the life-size blue whale in the Hall of Ocean Life at AMNH. You wouldn't be the first artist to work from those displays.
This book looks amazing- I can't wait to see it! I'm also highly impressed by your Sculpey model. I actually just posted something about a model I made once... and the results were less than impressive.
As always, so nice to see how you work!
Thanks for your information. I'm using this book for my 1st grade class and they love it. We drew pictures of a blue whale and they wrote their responsibilities inside the whale. we also watch crittercams video about blue whales.
Post a Comment