Good morning!
Apologies again for a delayed update, the year has become mightily busy of late!
I’m not long back from a study trip to Barcelona, where I actually got sunburnt! Pretty unbelievable when it’s tipping it down outside back in Britain, I was half-expecting a torrent of fair skin comments : “Oh wow, you burn in the rain?”
One of the highlights of this trip for me, as well as the bike ride which landed me in this mildly lobster-coloured situation, was a visit to a prime example of Gaudi’s architecture, La Pedrera: the entry ticket can be a little pricey but it’s definitely worth it. The lift takes you up to the roof, where there’s a truly breath-taking view of the city all around; I would’ve definitely done some drawing up there if it hadn’t been so windy (I’m rather afraid of heights, so ended up crawling next to the very small barrier to peer over the edge!)
Of course, during this time Erik had a bit of a break himself, it must be tiring to be drawn all the time!
But with only around a month left of my degree, I’m back to the daily grind now, and attempting to finalise all the parts of a final mockup book. As well as pages and pages of scribbles tweaking perspectives and poses, this also involves the selection process of my 3 favourite spreads to develop up into colour. A hard decision, but I’ve at least decided one, of which I can divulge my progress:
This piece is built up with two seperate layers of drawing in Photoshop: several layers of ink wash backgrounds, placed on top of one another and blended together, with Erik being placed on top as the final layer, drawn in blue pencil to match the colours (and also to stand out a little.) With this technique, sometimes small elements of detail are melded together or lost, for example, Erik’s right shoulder here. For this spread, however, this is what I wanted to achieve: Erik doesn’t arrive to modern Blighty in a boat, he’s a bit more mysterious than that, he just sort of… appears, as the first line reads: “Erik the Viking stepped out of the mist.” – and here, he literally seems to be materialising from the background (a mixture of mist, sheets of ice and icey stalactites) . A more ambiguous journey, appearance and artwork I felt would allow children to read their own meaning into Erik’s exploits, giving them a more personal connection with him from the very first spread.
It’s a lot of work, but I know I can get there!
Also, I realised that I hadn’t put any contact information in my “About” section- I’ve now updated that, if you have any inquiries please contact me using that email address!
Have a good April, enjoy some chocolate!
-The Autumnhobbit
© Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.