Creating Goblin on Warpig

This week I create a piece for illustration Friday, for those who don't know what it is, it's a website that supplies one word a week for challengers to illustrate. This week's word was 'Wild', I decided to create a toned paper drawing

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The first thing I always do is pull out my sketch book to explore ideas. I know I wanted to have a goblin riding some animal but I wasn't sure. So with the theme 'Wild' I decided to go with more of an Savannah them since that feels like a wild world of animals. I then chose a Warthog as the animal, I pulled out my ipad and looked for reference photos. What I like about having a tablet is that I can lay it down on the other side of the sketchbook like I can do with printed reference, so I can sit in a comfy chair and not at my desk all day.

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After I've created enough sketches to feel comfortable to move onto the final image, I'll go through my drawers to get the right piece of paper. For toned paper, I like Strathmore tan. Its smooth and takes ink really well. 

I draw with a 2H pencil, starting out with the basic shapes like I did in the thumbnail drawing in the sketchbook, because once details are applied it feels more committed to the piece and what happens if I need to move the head an inch over? After blocking, I use an HB pencil for the details, I don't tend to use a 4B or anything because it smudges and makes it hard for me to ink. Once details are done, it's time to ink

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I always ink on a flat surface, even when I ink at my drafting table I lay it flat and hover over it like a hawk. The brush I use is a 'round 0' but I've tried many brushes still I found one that I've liked, it's like finding the right pencil. For ink, I only ever use FW black, everything else never lives up to its standards. I start out inking large shapes first, then smaller, and finally the small little details like patterns. 

After the ink has completely dry, I get white gouache (Winsor Newton) and a fine brush to add whites. Most of the time it takes 2 layers to get a flat white, but I am also careful to not buckle the paper since it isn't made to take a large amount of water.

Once it's all dry, scan, and use some photoshop magic and its ready to share.

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