Drawing Chelsea (Patreon)

I teased this poster design before I hit the road - here's a peek at how I made it. :)

I've mentioned this here before, but I try not to trace photos unless I'm doing pro-bono work, or I'm in a big rush. Well, this project fell into both categories - it's an art trade with my friend Chelsea (who's a devil at clawhammer banjo), and I needed to get it done the weekend before I left - so I gave Procreate a try and traced her photo lightly on my iPad with a rough pencil tool. 

Once I had the rest of the elements sorted out (boy is it nice to move them around digitally instead of erasing and redrawing!), I printed out the sketch lightly on some kinda flimsy watercolor paper. (Sometimes not-amazing paper works well - I knew it would give me the splotchy effect I was looking for.) I chose blue because I knew I'd be using a lot of blue (it's not the same concept as using non-photo blue in this case!).  I always try to pick a color that won't look out-of-place if it peeks out under the final sketch. I taped down the sheet to a lap board before applying watercolor, then went nuts and got messy with a warm gold paint.

I finished the sketch using a Faber Castell blue colored pencil (I find the FC brand to be way more durable and able to handle more pressure than Prismacolor ones) and a pruplish-red one for the lettering. Inspired by my pal, the talented Dave Crosland, I tossed the brush around a bit to splatter a little blue in some areas. I don't have much advice in this realm, except that practice is the only thing that'll get you good at this, and ALWAYS aim away from faces! Frankly, as long as you get the paint anywhere but the face or lettering, you're gold. Never give your subject a paint facial.

That's pretty much it! I almost always stick to a minimal color scheme these days, mostly leaning on a split complimentary triad. This isn't quite split complimentary, buuuuuttt okay I don't know how I chose these colors, I guess I just liked them together. ;)

If y'all ever have any questions about my process, btw, feel free to ask here! I consider being my patron to mean that you're afforded a direct line to my advice, so take advantage of it if you want! <3