Final pencil drawing – PITT oil based pencil on Bristol paper. Size: 28cm x 36cm.
Rough sketch on detail paper Size: A4.
Col-Erase blue pencil on detail paper.
Brush and ink sketches.
Author Archive for Eddy Crosby
Girls from my sketchbook (Above).
Final pencil drawing on Bristol board. (Above)
Refining the sketch on detail paper. (Above)
Initial sketches on scrap paper. (Above)
Here’s an illustration I did back in March for Melbourne’s Child magazine. It appears in this month’s issue (May 2010). The article is entitled “Kids Birthday Parties – a survival guide for parents” and gives advice and tips on how to organise a kid’s birthday party.
The author states that the key to a successful party is planning and organisation but one sentence really stood out. “I’m a teacher and tend to run birthday parties with military precision…”
Words, such as enlist, survival, strategy also appear making the analogy that organising a kid’s party is not unlike running a military campaign.
This gave me the idea of showing a mum and a couple of adults serving at the party wearing army uniforms. This evolved into them wearing everyday clothes that looked a bit military. The WWII helmet became a stack hat, Mum wore a bandolier with crayon ammunition and a teenage son was armed and dangerous with a super soaker.
Here you can see my early sketches and a few thumbnails. I usually work out my composition on scrap paper at 13cm by 18cm. Once I am happy with the rough sketch I begin refining the drawing with overlays of detail paper. Sometimes it helps to do certain parts of the drawing separately. I did this with the kids hands..
After my final detail paper drawing I transfer it via light box to Bristol board using Col Erase blue pencil. I draw over that with HB lead and the darker PITT oil based pencil. The drawing is then scanned and cleaned up in Photoshop where colour is added.
Did these ones very quickly in my notebook. (Above).
Trying to go for a more stylised look. Flattened out the character and worked on creating a distinct profile (Above).
One of the most memorable characters in the St Trinian’s movies is played by George Cole. Flash Harry is a long time friend of the St Trinian girls. He’s the archetypal cockney spiv always involved in shady deals. Definitely a shifty and crafty character.
I did this digital painting in an effort to loosen up my style and go for a sketchy more interesting look. I avoided the use of black “ink” lines and tried to create form with values.
Medium: Photoshop CS4, Wacom tablet, 800 x 600, 300ppi.
Vikki Dougan was a model and actress in the 1950’s famous for wearing backless dresses. She later became the inspiration for Jessica Rabbit. Find out more here. The photo above inspired these rough sketches.
My first attempt at a four panel gag strip. I have always procrastinated about doing some sequential art so I thought that would make a good theme.
Sometimes artists can get a little too precious about the tools they use. Having said that I must add that this was drawn on detail paper then hand lettered and inked with a PITT brush pen.
A few drawings based on The Doll Squad. A movie which inspired the series ‘Charlie’s Angels’. They’re Beautiful, They’re Dangerous, They’re Deadly!
With these sketches I tried to avoid hard outlines. Derwent pencils on cartridge paper, A4 size.
Album cover image sourced from The Retro Spector.
The movie Cadillac Records (2008) chronicles the rise of Chess Records in 1950’s Chicago. R&B artist Beyoncé Knowles plays the blues singer Etta James. These sketches are inspired by both Beyoncé and the even more extraordinary looking (and sounding) Etta.
I am pretty happy to have illustrated this month’s story in Australian Woman’s Weekly (March 2010).
The story entitled Ambush is about a wife who finds out that her husband and faithful dog (Ambush) have been involved in a road accident. The husband is an old hippie type who loves riding around the neighborhood on his Harley with Ambush in a sidecar.
I began my rough sketches with trying out various compositions but the side on view seemed to be the strongest. The subject seemed to lend itself to a very definite foreground (dog in sidecar), mid-ground (man on bike) and background (stormy sky and lake) arrangement.
These three levels would also be emphasised by colour, with brighter colours to the fore and cooler colours making the background recede.
When i came to do my final pencil drawing i also treated each element (Man on bike, Dog in sidecar etc) separately and assembled them on layers in Photoshop. This gave total control with placement and i could easily change the sky.
Below you see the various stages.
Artwork assembled in Photoshop ready to be coloured (above).
Final pencil drawing on watercolour paper (above).
Colour rough that was approved by the client (above).
Rough sketches (above).
