To recap, I’ve given the thought balloon areas a first go over with color, removed the masking tape and softened the hard edges with a little transparent wash. The next step is simple. I just flesh out these colored areas with more watercolors until I’m satisfied. I do a lot of adding and subtracting of color using paper towels until I have the forms, light and shadow developed. It’s very difficult to be very comprehensive in my description of this phase because it happens very intuitively. I go into the whole thing with a rough idea of what colors to use (as seen in last post) and eventually become more and more specific as I move into the more rendered watercolor and pencil phase. I try to maintain a harmonious balance for the overall page while also giving the individual elements a certain veracity. I pay attention to the color of light hitting the objects (in this case a boy in a cave) and the resulting shadows as well. The more fully rendered page 26 looked like this.

At this stage I think I am ready to move onto the next phase of coloring the image and that is to go in with some colored pencils (or pencil crayons as I’m known to call them). I use Staedler Watercolor pencils as well as Prismacolor Premier pencils. The pencils help bring out some highlights, add details and activate the surface by rubbing them to pick up some of the paper’s texture. A technique I enjoy with the watercolor pencils is to apply the areas with the pencils dry and then modulate them by going over the area with a quick swifit swipe using a wide damp brush. This tends to unevenly darken and saturate the watercolor pencil color and adds a nice effect. There’s a bit of randomness to it that I enjoy. I continue with the pencils bringing out the highlights, deepening shadows and softening the balloon edges. Let’s take a look at the end result while I describe the remaining steps.

When I feel I’ve got ‘it’ with the pencils, I then take the white Prismacolor pencil and begin to add some of the ’stars’ that float around the edges of the thought balloons. I’ll also use other light colored pencils but primarily use the white. In some cases I’ll soften the edges of the balloons as well. Next up, I take process white paint to correct errors from the inking step and to add any bright whites and highlights. I take a small brush and a bit of Winsor & Newton Process White and dab around the edges of the balloons. This adds a little depth to the ’stars’ since this application of white is more opaque than the pencils. These brighter ’stars’ appear closer while the penciled ’stars’ appear to be deeper in pictorial space. Any mistakes in the black and white areas are touched up at this point as well. I seem to remember touching up the corner of my mouth in the third image. The process white can be tinted with the watercolors to add colored highlights as well. Most of the highlights on the scrit’s legs are a mixture of ultramarine blue with the process white. Lastly, I take a light grey Faber Castell Pitt brush pen and add a few lines to describe the rain seen through the cave entrance.

And that’s all of the steps that happen on paper! We’re now ready to scan the page and begin adding some digital effects and letters. Come back tomorrow when I finish this page in the final step, Digital Tweaks and Letters!

Once the inks are finished, I give the whole thing an erasing while being mindful of not losing the outlines of the thought balloons. They’re important for the next step which is laying a piece of vellum over the page and tracing these balloons onto the vellum. This sheet will become my template for where the balloons will be when I cover over the pencil lines with painter’s masking tape. That’s the next step. I lay down the masking tape to cover the balloon areas and once the whole page has been masked, I lay down my vellum template and trace the penciled balloons with an Xacto blade. The last step in the masking phase is to pull away the tape to expose the areas to be colored. Here’s what page 26 looked like at this point.

I enjoy the look of the pages at this point. The blue masking tape against the white of the balloons is somehow very appealing to me and I think it helps me get a sense of how the shapes work (or not) with each other. Now, onto the first step in coloring this page. I use three sets of watercolor pans by Lukas, Winsor & Newton and Yarka. I grew up using watercolors in trays and have always stuck with them. When I’ve tried the tubes, I felt there was too much waste and no real tangible advantage. At this stage of coloring my goal is to get some of the basic colors down and to bring out the edges of the balloons. It’s pretty simple and this is what it looks like after laying down these preliminary colors and removing the masking tape.

It’s not much yet but it’s a start and the next phase will really start to bring things into focus. For that, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow when we see what happens in Colors Part 2! See you then!