my drawing process

i think it's time for me to write about my drawing process. i've been experimenting with this process since the end of 2003, which is when i started tracing instead of freehand drawing for paintings. it all started with pancho and lefty. something about tracing the cover just felt right; even if i was such a snob about it when i was a kid. i've been changing and adapting this process ever since. currently this is what it is:

first i find an image that i am interested in painting. today it's the slinky siamese from kittens usa 2010 annual magazine. it's from the editors of cat fancy magazine so you know it's quality :) i find images from all over the place; magazines, catalogs, vintage books, the internet. recently i've started taking my own photos to use as images.

next i'll make a xerox copy of the image.

once i have a xerox, i'll start tracing the outline of the image with a soft graphite pencil. i like 6B pencils for this. but i need to check out mechanical and drafting pencils because i want my lines to be more precise. the lines from regular pencils gets thicker as you keep drawing.

after i finish tracing the outline, i transfer the image onto a sheet of paper. i do this by flipping the xerox over onto whatever paper i'm using and rubbing the back of the xerox with a bone folder. my transfer process is similar to making a print.

the soft graphite lines transfer to the paper without needing carbon paper.

From here, i'll either make a painting or make a master tracing; depending on whether or not i want to make multiple paintings of the same image or if i decide to manipulate and refine the image.

for this image, i'm going to make a master tracing. i want to refine a couple lines a tad and get rid of a bit of clutter.

once i get the image right, i make a xerox copy of it.

then the process begins again...

trace outline and rub one out :)

for this painting, i'm using translucent yupo. it took the pencil really well, but the pencil lines will disappear once i start to watercolor.