Lion & Mouse Illustration Process post

Ok I admit it. I've been absent from this blog. I've been busy working on a big hush hush illustration project which is finally winding down. Unfortunately, I can't share anything from it yet BUT I can share the illustration process of my personal Christmas card.

Lion & Mouse © Diana Ting Delosh
Inks on watercolor paper & Digital.
Here's the CARD

I all begins with a pencil sketch. As you can see, originally was thinking of doing some hand lettering on the top.

Lion & Mouse Pencil Sketch
 © Diana Ting Delosh

Next comes the ink. Currently I'm using a brush on watercolor paper. It gives me thicks and thins as well as various tones of blacks and texture. I feel it all adds to the illustration's energy.

Lion & Mouse Ink Line © Diana Ting Delosh

I use colored inks to paint right over my black lines. I've lengthened the lion to give myself some leeway with the final design. I will mess with background on a separate layer in Photoshop.

Lion & Mouse © Diana Ting Delosh
Colored Inks on watercolor paper

Experimenting with the background. I know I want stars and a magical quality to the sky. Time to experiment with backgrounds. The sky is actually a sky I had previously painted with colored inks on watercolor and scanned.  I like the texture of real paints on paper. The stars are drawn in digitally on their own layer. Thank Goodness for the Wacom Tablet!

Lion & Mouse © Diana Ting Delosh
on Background-A

 Not enough oomph. It still lacks that magical quality I was after. Make the sky darker? Toss? NO! Thank goodness for layers. Just experiment with adding digital swirls and more stars and layers until... Voila! See the finished design at the beginning of this post.

Happy Holidays to ALL!

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