Ever visit a place for the first time? A place you could swear you’ve never been, and yet somehow you feel you have been there before? Perhaps you remember being younger, or with different people, still, you can’t shake the thought that the past is somehow repeating itself. In my RUST novel, a girl named Amelia starts to experience visions from her childhood as she makes her way through a long abandoned amusement park. You can learn what happened next in chapter twelve.
https://rastelly.com/2011/06/rust-by-rebecca-a-stelly-c-2011/
What follows is a heavily photoshoped drawing. It wasn’t much bigger then a greeting card. I made it small so it wouldn’t take as long to make. I finished in three days. I took a lot of breaks though, because humans are not my strong suit. I was nervous you see. The color is pencil colors – Prismacolor and Faber-Castell. I started by drawing a picture with a regular mechanical pencil. I then made a copy so I would have an extra in case I messed up. I planed to use an orange filter but I liked the colors so much I decided not too. What follows is a small excerpt from the story – please enjoy.
Amelia approached a brooding, bay-windowed, brick mansion barely identifiable under its blanket of ivy.
She‘d been here before.
She recalled fighting her cousin so as not to be led in. They had stood beside the winged statues lining the path. In the end he had relented, perhaps at father’s urging, and she had been relieved.
Perhaps it was that past incident fueling her gut instinct to keep away, even though it was sprinkling, and the door to the fun house was ajar.
rastelly 
How great that you can write the story AND illustrate it!
Yeah 🙂
I hear the writing business is tough
right now so I’m tring to hone my
skills as an illistrater, so I can have
something else to fall back on. I’m
often told that RUST should be a
graphic novel – I am still considering
it, In the mean time I’ll just add a few
images here and there.
i should ditto with composerinthegarden talent as yours are rare. your stories and illustrations both are amazing.
this picture is fantastic, especially the creature above.
It’s a statue, actually. I saw a photograph of one
just like it and was inspired. I almost added the
image to the post but diden’t know who to ask
for permission.
yes, you have made that distinction clear- it is a staue with wings. repainting it must have been quite a tough game.
It was not as hard I thought it would
be. The boy and girl gave me the most
trouble. I will have incorporate people
into my pictures more often. So I can
gain more experience.
those two are fantastic works too. yes, the boy’s dress and the face must have been quite a tough job.
i too am not very good with human paintings, esp expressions, the thing you captured perfectly.
I find watching animated (cartoon.)
dramas can tell you a lot about how
clothes works, real fabric can be
overwhelming to some (Me 😉 )
animators know how to simplify their
caractors so that only the most
important lines are seen – not that
it helps me much, I am often too
lazy to grab my sketchbook when
a show is on. I drew the boy’s
clothes by looking at my own
clothes. I’m glad you like his
shirt.
i often gather my inspiration from movies, animation movies too, because there you get the readymade scene, and animations are really very good teachers, you will not only get the scene but the scene itself will be handpainted so you can easily follow the rules to get your desired figure.
the dress of that boy and his face are splendid works of art. well, if you draw his dress by looking at your own thats amazing. seeing a real thing and painting that is not an easy task.
changing the gravatar of sharmishthabasu@hotmail.com was useless so i changed the email id 🙂 Now its working fine it seems. Atleast for now.
Love your face gravatar. I was surprised to see a
new one. So colorful, I think it’s your best yet.
I’m glad to hear you were able to get around your
problem. Your art style is very functional. You do
seem to know a lot about composition – (Design,
General placement.) I try to draw realistically,
but that’s only because I’mtoo lazy to experiment.
Sometimes a mistake can be a discovery. You stuff
reminds me of Chienese brush painting, scenes look
very serene and peaceful. 🙂
no, i know almost nothing about painting, writing skills. you can call my works are guided by my muse.
i just empty my mind and let my muse take the control when i am writing or painting. that works the best for me.
you know, its always easy to experiment in computer, because your older work will not be harmed. i often keep playing with my paintings till i get one that catches my fancy. sometimes one accidental change absolutely changes the work.
when i used paper-pencil or paper-colour i did not dared to experiment much 🙂
There are some who use
charcoal to blacken an
entire canvas. Then they
create their works by
wiping away the charcoal
at certin parts. I’m told
this methoud relieves
the fear of a blank
canvas, but that is
only if you want you
picture to be black
and white.
What I do like
about computers
is that messy brush
strokes are not a
problem.
i have read about that technique too, both about charcoal paintings and the coloured one, first painting the background by a single colour and the scratching away the colour for effect.
i prefer painting on computer for exactly that reason- no weeping over one lousy brush stroke.
i have a small gift for you in my blog, will be very happy if you take a look:
http://sharmishthabasu.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/your-blog-is-amazing-rastelly/
I like the image, but I can tell that humans are not your strong point like you said. It is really easy to improve though. Do you know the average proportions of a human head? I usually start out by sketching the proportions as guide lines, then I add detail to the face to make it look more unique. Also, if you want to improve on drawing people I suggest you get a small sketch book and carry it around with everywhere and when you have a willing model make a quick sketch of them. The more you do the better you will get at it. That is what I do. Also, do some of the sketches in pen. It helps because you can erase your mistakes, so you can waste time and erase them, but you are forced to make the mistake work in the sketch.
I hope that I didn’t offend you by this post; just trying to help you.
No problem. The boy in the picture had a better head, untill I was
forced to shrink it because his hands were not in proportion. My hands
are always way too small. The girl was hard because she is supposed to
be a child version of an adult I have sketched before. I like working in a
style influenced by Anime when drawing humans but that doesen’t always
work when using pencil colors. The eyes were too sensitive when adding
color so I didden’t get many chances to fool with them. This was pretty
small picture after all. Lately I’ve been using a video game character
generator to create human faces I can sketch. I trying to learn some
different noses. Thanks for tips. Your idea of using ink is scary – I
feel I would waste a lot of paper, but it sounds like an interesting
challenge. 🙂
I think it’s a great image. I like the expressions of the persons and dragon/sculpture. The colours are indeed lovely. I wouldn’t necessarily worry about rules, like proportions of human beings. This is fantasy and caricature and I think your are very able to bring out the characters very well. I think it’s quite amazing how you are able to both write intriguing and make wonderful illustrations to your text.
Thank you very much. Jake Thrasher’s comment was in responce
to my desire to improve my human figures. Sometimes when you
are trying to be serious, some level of realism may help. Though I
have often seen graphic novelists tell a compelling story with very
simple characters. Your comment made me feel really good this
morning. It gives me lots of confidence in myself. 🙂
I thought the dragon is not a sculpture and that he’s playing with the kids.
Prehaps he is. Perhaps they only think
he is a statue. They will be in for a
surprise. 😉
I want to tell you that I have nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger Award, because your blog is incredibly creative and inspiring. For more info about the nomination, have a look at my post More Rain.
This confirms it. I am undeniably a Kreativ Blogger. Not
once but twice have I been given this honor. I’m not sure
what Kreativ means but now I have a matching pair. Will
get around to posting as soon as can find time away from
may latest project. One of my short stories is about to get
a few thousand words longer. I plan to submit it to a new
publisher I’ve found. Once again thanks. 🙂
Another wonderful post here Rastelly and just to add more strings to your bow.. and another well deserved award I have just nominated you to receive the Leibster Award and you can find the award here and what it entails here at
http://suedreamwalker.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/awards-and-away-time/ I hope this award bring with it many new visitors to your Delightful Blog.. Blessings Sue Dreamwalker