A Step-By-Step Guide To My Art

A few people were asking me during my latest convention, the Entertainment Media Show, how I create each piece of my art. A few people mistook them for photographs which I had photoshopped to "make blurry". 

So because of this, I have decided to put together a blog post explaining how exactly I create my art. 

1. Firstly, I normally start off with a quick pencil sketch of the piece in my sketchbook (if not, I go straight onto Manga Studios and draw the piece). 

2. I scan the sketch in then using digital painting programme Manga Studios and my Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet, I proceed to colour the piece.

3. When I first got serious about art, I started learning by painting oil paintings. I also love impressionism. As my flat is rather small, I could not complete oil paintings. As some of you may know, oil paintings take a considerable amount of time to dry, and I have not got the room to air them out. So instead I decided to combine both my enjoyment of oil paintings with my love of impressionism to create digital impressionistic pieces which look like they have been done with oil paints. 

4. I use a variety of blends and tools on Manga Studios to colour the piece, and using my knowledge of oils and impressionism, I create the final piece!

Techniques and tools
I tend to put down a lot of shades next to each other in patches after I have put down the base colours. After I then blend all of the little patches together, before then adding little details and refining the shape and form of the picture.

The tools I use are just the basic brush, pen, eraser and blend tool, which smudges them together, allowing for a smoother gradient on a small scale. 

Here are two examples, broken down into steps to show you the progression. I plan to do some more of these soon to upcoming pieces.

Johnny Depp, stage by stage.

Anthony Head, stage by stage.

Other things to note:

My prints are rather blurry up close. This is all part of impressionism! Take a look at one of my pieces up close to see the blurriness. Look at it from a distance and it becomes clearer, almost like a photo, so I can understand why people mistaken them for photographs before!

The effect is much more effective in a bigger size, such as my A4 prints. 

I hope that helped to explain how I did it! Any further questions about my technique, or anything else about my art, then please do not hesitate to get in touch!

Lewis