Neolithic Raid- A Process

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Above shows my process in making inked drawings these days. It starts with working on very loose sketches, thinking about the image in broad strokes essentially.

Recently I have added a digital sketch phase to my process, after the suggestion by Eva Widermann at Eoin Coveneys Art Critique group. Its a handy way of doing things because you can be very loose and redraw things 50 billion times without damage to the paper, also I can think a little ahead about roughly how I will ink it and easily work out the perspective/poses/lighting etc

Then I print it out, lightbox it, and then draw it, this is where I start to really setup a map of how I will ink later on, add things like costume, tighten the poses and work out some of the mark making designs for later. Its handy way too, as you are essentially redrawing the image again, and so I can sometimes spot mistakes I made in digital inking and correct them e.g. the 2nd house in the bottom left.

Finally, I take the drawing and render it with ink, essentially cementing the drawing but this is also where the real magic takes place and the fun starts, with adding more mood, real strong values and interesting textures and designs etc.

The Final Piece