So, today I'm going to teach you how I do a poster image from my book Tanpopo,
which is my creator owned graphic novel that's based on literature.
I began it many years ago and just as like a passion,
I call my passion project.
Then, it got such a good following that I
decided to extend it into a graphic novel series.
So, the second graphic novel debuts in a couple of weeks,
and I thought it would be great to do a poster for the book,
for the release and to show you guys how I do that.
So, that's what we're going to be learning today, from sketching,
all the way to the ink drawing,
to the final digital coloring.
So, the very first part of the lesson that we're going to do,
the very first thing you have to do,
is come up with the idea and come up with the concept for your illustration.
So, what I suggest you do is decide whether you're going to do portrait or landscape.
Now, because this is a graphic novel,
it's a portrait style.
What you want to do, is just get printer paper,
any kind of white paper.
It could be even in your sketch book.
This is the fun part where you just come up with a bunch of different ideas,
and honestly I've come up with ideas
in the most random places at coffee shops or just sitting watching Grey's Anatomy.
I'm like oh my gosh this is the idea I would need.
So, have something to draw at all times.
This one what I suggest you do,
is just get a piece of paper and then you
draw some rectangles and they don't have to be perfect,
this is just your sketching.
Get all your ideas out now.
I learned a lesson when I was taking illustration classes and it was,
your first idea is probably going to be your worst idea.
So, don't get to set on your first idea but sketch out as many ideas as you possibly can.
My teacher suggested a hundred.
I don't do a hundred but I will do about a dozen or so.
So, I've already sketched out my ideas for Tanpopo but this is what you're going do.
You're going to have your rectangles here and then come up with the concept for it.
So, for the concept for this illustration is Kuro who is the Faustian devil.
In this particular graphic novel,
he dawns a goat mask,
so that's going to be incorporated because it follows along with the story.
In Tanpopo, is being tormented by the Mask of Red Death.
Now, Kuro is her protector.
So, I want to show that in the illustration,
I want to show that Kuro
he's there to keep her safe and to save her from the mask of her death.
So, the focal point here is Kuro and Tanpopo.
So, I want to show that tanpopo is very vulnerable in
this particular instance because she's
gone through a lot of basically torture by the Mask of Red Death.
A very protective pose is the firemen carry or in the story is the princess carry.
Like the hero comes, sweeps the girl off her feet.
Very romantic and I happened to be a hopeless romantic.
So, I'm going to have Kuro holding Tanpopo and what I use for
my drawings is just a simple Bic pen but you could use a pencil if you
want to erase and draw over.
I use my Bic and so I just have the form here.
As I said, Tanpopo is a graphic novel that is very free form.
So, it's very different than normal comic.
So, what I want to do is break the rules here and I
want to just extend Kuro's body and he's just wearing this long black cloak.
And want to break it up so that it's resembles blood, resembles a splatter.
It's not a violent thing,
it's just more of a dramatic effect.
So, his cloak is going to turn into this.
So, that's what I'm doing now.
We want to show Kuro's face.
So, there's his mask which is off to the side.
I think when you're doing an illustration,
you want to engage your audience and you also want to have them emote.
One of my favorite sayings is express what they feel and feel what they express.
So, that's what this is about.
I want to show the characters expressions that's why I'm going to choose to have
Tanpopo like actually looking scared and for Kuro to look a little evil grinning.
So, that's like the focal point right there and you do
remember that there's elements to the characters too that you want to repeat.
So, if you're doing a manga and everybody here who's designed
a character has elaborate things that they adorn their characters with.
I'll be very cautious with when you do character
designing that you don't go too elaborate.
I've done work on Skype Hearts of Neuroptera and it was character designs for a game.
The characters, for the game they needed a lot of tassels and a lot
of extra elements to their costumes which will be incorporated in the gameplay.
Then, the creator decided that he wanted to do a graphic novel based on
these characters and that's when I was tormented
for a good six months because the characters are so extravagant that to
repeatedly draw the same outfit over and over again became
very tedious and very difficult.
So, you do get away with the one illustration,
where you can give your characters a bit more outfits,
make them more elaborate because you're just doing the one illustration.
But if you're going to continue this character in a sequential story,
make sure you tone it down but have the iconic imagery.
For example, Kuro never shows all of his face.
He's hidden it behind black hair and Tanpopo has wings on
she wears and also her bangs are like a bad haircut but I don't know,
I just drew it and I thought it looked really good and it defined the character.
So, she's got like half cut bangs on the side.
So, I want to have that included in the design