I've been working on a children's picture book that has a Momma Loon as the 'star'. Sometimes, when I'm 'stuck' or (my favorite) "Nothing good's comin' out of the pen! It's the pen's fault!", I will reframe the main character. You know, something completely out of character.
So, I made Momma Loon a pirate.
Using an ugly, old calligraphy stick (dip it in the 20 year old bottle of India Ink) pen, I drew her quickly on scrap 24 lb. cheezy paper. Dried her with a hair dryer. Then, slathered water color all over her. I was after Idea, not Final Art. And then...
She bled. Bad. Cigar ran. Face ran. Nose ran.
(Remember that for next time, Brooke, India ink runs in water.)
Then, I placed the Seriously Rumpled 24lb. sheet of paper in my scanner and spent the next three hours taking out the vast bulk of the 'bleed-ification'. The final result you see above.
After all THAT, I'm not sure I even like the Cleaned Up version.
So, I repeated the excercise on a much larger sheet of (still very cheezy) paper. (Oh, and sans cigar.) I really like the Unexpected Messes. All the watercolor bled, instantly. So, red cheeks become, ah, well, not, shall we say? I had to put the brush in places, and at speeds, I'm not used to.
Gee, if I'm not careful, this could become my favorite media.
The fly, by the way, was drawn with another pen and ink combo. Bad idea, eh?
Thought you might enjoy the process.
Brooke
