https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwHgTAQdatQ
Here is a video showing the winners of my recent colouring competition and here is the competition video
https://youtu.be/j1gJXB3vKYM
How to create characters for illustrations
Ever wondered how to create characters for illustrations? Shoo has illustrated hundreds of children’s books for major publishers.
In this video he shows his thought process as he redesigns a character he is not happy with in one of his Scaredy Cats stories.
Is there a secret to designing characters? Endless drawing and refining is the answer.
You can copy anime or disney styles, but your work will always look like any other animal or disney work.
Don’t copy, assimilate. Bring the best of other styles into your style. That way you will slowly build up as style that is unique and all your own – a bit like handwriting.
The illustration in the book comes from Scaredy Cats, which Shoo has successfully funded on Kickstarter. Click if you would like to find out more.
What is Crosshatching? – Pen and ink drawing 101
Cross hatching is the method of using black and white lines to give the illusion of tone or shade in a black and white drawing , which by definition, has only two tones or shade – Black and white
Hatching is filling in an area with parallel lines to create an illusion of tone or shade.
Adding another layer of lines, drawn in a different direction, gives the illusion of a darker shade.
Adding more layers in different directions, darkens the filled area more with each layer.
Used simply it is a way of filling areas with tone or shade.
Used creatively, cross hatching can also give the illusion or impression of depth or 3Dness.
It requires fine motor skills, patience and persistence to learn to draw lines at equal distances and make the tonal vale look even.
Practice a little bit everyday and you will soon be a master of Coss hatching.