The Process – Vue Privée’s Maiko

Posted: July 14th, 2010 | Author: Fleecircus | Filed under: Work-In-Progress, exhibition, portfolio, sketch, workflow | Tags: , , , , , | 15 Comments »

Client: Vue Privée‘s Gallery

Brief: Aimed at capturing the elegance of Old Japan, seen through the lens of photographers living and working during the late Edo period (1872 – 1912). Using gallery owner’s private antique photos collection as inspiration.

Process: To start any project i always do extensive research for the items i planning to draw. Sometimes, even read up facts on them.

While looking for research i basically already have an image in my head on how i want my illustrations to be, so most of the time i only look for items that goes similar to that idea. Similar meaning; species of plants/animals, man/woman, dressing, pose, angle/view/perspective etc.

I do all the initial sketches on tracing paper, so i can overlay them on top one another to “check” if the composition works. And after that some minor adjustment/fine tuning will be done before i redraw the entire image as a whole.

Once the image is scanned onto Photoshop, i began an extensive cleaning up of tiny dust spots and pencil lines. Followed by pathing out the items that needed to be coloured. Here’s the view of my path window in Photoshop.

And also the process of colouring.

Even though i been given total freedom to create this piece, from time to time i do email the client on the sketch done for update, so to assure that i am on track and do not stray to far from the topic.

So here’s the finish piece!

Two most important tips i can offer to anyone.

A) SAVE YOU FILE

B) BACK UP FILES RELIGIOUSLY

Thanks for reading and comments will be very appreciated. :)

Be Sociable, Share!

15 Comments on “The Process – Vue Privée’s Maiko”

  1. 1 mindflyer said at 9:15 am on July 14th, 2010:

    Thanks sister for posting this behind the scene look!

    Good tips:
    1. On doing proper research before u start.
    2. “have an image in my head” – I always tell the younger illustrators- DON”T START if you don’t see that “image” in your head after you have digested the brief. It means you don’t really understand the brief in full yet. Time to ask smart questions till you are clear.

  2. 2 Fleecircus said at 9:20 am on July 14th, 2010:

    Thank you sir!

  3. 3 Shyam said at 9:57 am on July 14th, 2010:

    I always wonder how do you manage to draw those beautiful lines..thanks for sharing your process..would you mind sharing your early sketches/rough drawings as well?

  4. 4 Tweets that mention The Process – Vue Privée’s Maiko | oicsingapore -- Topsy.com said at 11:35 am on July 14th, 2010:

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by FLEECIRCUS, oicsingapore. oicsingapore said: The Process – Vue Privée’s Maiko: Client: Vue Privée’s Gallery Brief: Aimed at capturing the elegance of Old Jap… http://bit.ly/ddJmqN [...]

  5. 5 eeshaun said at 12:28 pm on July 14th, 2010:

    you are singapore audrey kawasaki !

  6. 6 zeropointfive said at 2:18 pm on July 14th, 2010:

    Yay Flee! Even though our styles are different, my process is quite similar to yours! :)

    Yea your linework is drop dead gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

  7. 7 zeropointfive said at 2:20 pm on July 14th, 2010:

    LOL Yes I agree! *Command, S* every 2mins if you can help it!

  8. 8 Fleecircus said at 5:27 pm on July 14th, 2010:

    > Shyam: Erm… i am obsessed on sketching neat. So i start sketching REALLY neat and tidy, even at the first round. And i mean REALLY neat (according to Mindflyer) :P
    So the B&W sketch that i posted above, yup. That were the first initial sketches.

    > Eeshaun: Erm.. wow? I wouldn’t dream of it! Thanks bro.

    > Zeropointfive: Hahah! High five!
    Thank you thank you! And command S!! :D

  9. 9 Shyam said at 6:25 pm on July 14th, 2010:

    WHAT? so you mean those drawings are initial sketches(?) !! you did those drawings without any construction? damn 0_O.. Hats off to your perfection!!

  10. 10 miel said at 9:48 pm on July 14th, 2010:

    beautiful!

  11. 11 Momo said at 2:57 pm on July 15th, 2010:

    Wonderful seeing the process and what a truly gorgeous illustration!

  12. 12 Ray Toh said at 10:07 pm on July 16th, 2010:

    Very nice! See liao feel like crying. T_T Haa. Loving it!

  13. 13 ag said at 4:59 pm on July 19th, 2010:

    waaaahhhh, xiexie flee-sama for sharing process!!! ^^”" *kowtow and retreat to cave to practice*

  14. 14 ag said at 5:04 pm on July 19th, 2010:

    kakaka, this will possibly kill you, but maybe adding some dirty texture to this piece might be naice? like stains and dirtmarks, sorta like an old photograph. :X

  15. 15 TIA said at 7:00 am on July 22nd, 2010:

    Wow, fantastic work. This process idea is really a hit!!!!