Inertia
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been busy these last couple of of months rendering new artwork to adorn the dustjackets of the 10-year anniversary of The Spiderwick Chronicles. Early next year, Simon & Schuster will unveil the new jackets, along with news about the re-release of the original five chapter books.
The art for the Spiderwick jackets was created with a combination of traditional inks and washes along with Photoshop. After the work was complete, the inertia to continue onwards with my daily sketch exercises was still within me. Free of any contractual restraints, I started drawing fairies.
Some were old designs revisited…
…others were new ideas altogether.
Are they Spiderwick sprites? They certainly share the same style and design as the art rendered for the books, but I think these studies are a bit further developed. There’s a more mature aesthetic infused in them that I am satisfied with (for the moment).
The sketches were traced onto Strathmore smooth Bristol using a light table. From there, reference was gathered (with help from my little 5-year old sprite) from the outdoors and from my bookshelf.
Once the drawing was complete, I inked the image with my usual Hunts 102 nib and sepia FW ink. Though I will erase the heavy pencil work after the ink dries, I leave some of the underlying sketch to reveal a bit of my process.
Color was applied with Yarka St. Petersburg Watercolors over a thin wash of Burnt Sienna Holbein Acryla-Gouache. The Bristol board isn’t really the best for watercolors – its quite porous with little (if any) sizing on it – but I like soaking the color into the drawing to enhance the line. These are more tinted drawings than paintings to me.
Finally, since I hardly ever release my art for sale anymore, I thought it would be fun to make these available for purchase. Details on acquiring the original artwork will be posted here (and on facebook and twitter) this Wednesday (10/24) at 12 noon EST. Perhaps one of these little studies will find its way into your collection.
You can click the above image to see more detail. Also, I’ve added more of the sketches and color studies to my Art Gallery under Sketchbook. Enjoy!
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SO Excited about this. I want the Wolfsbane Fairy and the Slipper Fairy.. actually, I’m pretty sure I need them to live. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them..
Thanks Rebecca. To clarify, only the 4 watercolor studies will be available for purchase at this time. I’m holding onto the sketches in hopes of creating more down the road…
Crossing my fingers for the Wolfsbane one sometime in the future then.
These are so beautiful! Definitely some of the best work you’ve done. I would buy one if I had more than 20 bucks spending money…
These are really fun. I’m just curious, how fast were you able to draw and paint these? Also have you had your daughter model for some of your drawings?
I haven’t had my daughter pose exactly for an images, but I have sketched her a lot and that has led to a better understanding of the form and anatomy of a child. These sprites were done over the course of a week. They were all sketched, then I picked the 4 I wanted to paint, then transferred, inked, etc…