"Permission" Illustration walk-through

"Permission" Illustration walk-through

"Permission" Chris Knight 2019

  This post is a breakdown of how I approached this illustration and an insight into my general process. Every painting ends up taking it's own course and this was no exception, but many of the steps are common to my process. 

THEMES AND IDEAS

  

"Shrine Guardian" Chris Knight 2018

  If you've seen some of my other work you'll know that I love the theme of mysterious creatures in a deep, dense forest doing mysterious and magical things. For my next painting I wanted to continue playing in this world, but with with a different subject matter and slightly different thematic approach. One of my previous illustrations "Shrine Guardian" was the closest thing I've created to Fine Art (as opposed to commercial illustration) in a long time and I wanted to do another piece in that vein. Making a painting with a dryad as the subject matter has been on my radar for a while and this seemed like a good opportunity to scratch that itch. Additionally, I wanted the scene to evoke a sense of serenity and calm. With the subject and emotional impact in mind, I started doing some doodles. 

SKETCHES

Dryad Doodles

  The sketch phase starts out with just trying to get some dynamic poses in and a general idea of what kind of style I want for the image. After playing around with poses and ideas of what would be visually interesting I create some thumb nails with the general aspect ratio I'm looking to work in (in this case a 16" x 20" canvas. This stage is where I further explore the subject matter and add story. Unlike a commercial illustration where your job is to fulfill a client's needs as spelled out in an art brief, a personal painting requires more of a writer's sensibility. What is your subject doing? Why are they doing it? Why should anyone care? A woman posing in the forest is fine and all, but a narrative will capture the viewer and bring them into the image. While working out the thumbnails and asking myself questions, the idea of the dryad interacting with a giant queen bee and it's beehive emerged. 

COMPILING REFERENCE

I'll do a post about reference another time, so I won't linger on it too long. I create a new LARGE Photoshop file and just start dumping into it any images that will inform my drawing and rendering. This is a mix between images found online, photo reference I've taken over the years, reference I shot specifically for this piece and painting inspiration from other artists. This is crucial part of the painting process for me and this document will continue to grow as I face new problems or get inspired by something else to add. 

WORKING OUT THE COMPOSITION

Composition and line drawing

  Settling on a composition that seemed to tell a compelling visual story, I began composing the image in Photoshop. I went with a sitting pose to fit in the full figure with the other elements that were essential to the story, specifically the beehive. The first image contains all the basic narrative elements of the image and is the foundation to build upon. Having the foundation down relieves a lot of anxiety about the piece even if there are major issues left to resolve. 

  I struggled to find a sitting pose that felt dynamic, but ended up with something that felt suitable and not too anatomically broken.  Between the first and second image shown above, I took some reference and found a more natural position for the legs. After that it's all about filling out the background, refining the drawing and adding some details. Once I was happy with the drawing, I turn the line layer on to multiply, lessen the opacity of the layer and lay down some color underneath. 

COLOR AND RENDERING

Rendering

The image is finally starting to look like a painting, but we've still many leagues to travel before our rest. At this point in the journey it's easy to get lost and tiny voices in the distance will call to you, leading you to stray from the path. To avoid these temptations I create a map- specifically a check list of steps to help me make progress without losing hour (or days!) rendering something insignificant to the impact of the image. 

The map reads like this: 

Texture Pass - Atmosphere/Readability Pass - Color/Vibrancy Pass - Render/Detail Pass

While I'm working on one type of pass I ignore all else (mostly...)

Image 2 is the texture pass, image 3 the Atmosphere/Readibility pass, image 4 the Color/Vibrancy pass. This structured approach is crucial for me. Without a road map I become easily lost, darting from one aspect of the painting to another, not sure what to do next. 

There are other fixes that are made in these images (for instance I noticed her right arm was too long, then leading to a replacement of the bee.) 

FINAL PASS

Final fixes

  The journey is nearly over and the end is in sight. To finish up, I do some more value corrections to further reinforce the focal points and unify the atmosphere of the painting. Little details like fireflies are added. The hummingbird and butterflies get a little more love and a little foreground element is added to create a tiny bit more depth. I don't like for my signature to interfere with the image- and a name floating around the forest would definitely take me out of the scene, so I scrawl it into that little foreground element. Nice a clean.

  If you're still reading, thanks for making it this far! I'll be adding a YouTube video going over this as well (link to be added later) so if that's the kind of thing you're into feel free to check it out. 

You can see more of my work at Artstation.com/chrisknightart

I also run an Art House out of Austin, TX called Good Knight Art Studio, LLC which you can check out at goodknightart.com

Feel free to get in touch with me through the contact form there if you have any questions. Look forward to hearing from y'all! See ya in the next blog post.