Howl's Moving Castle - Sketch for August's Print (Patreon)

Hello again everyone! 

August's print is all sketched out and ready for line art! I've made lots of notes to myself for color too so I think this print will go pretty quickly...I just have to make sure I don't redraw Howl's face 300 times or something stupid. I'm already seeing some pieces from previous sketches that I want to include in the final- it's such a good exercise for me to look back through old sketches of a piece to remember what mood and energy I wanted to create when I was less concerned with the accuracy of bodies and likeness.

I want to mention a program I've been using to keep reference next to me while I work in photoshop/on my laptop- it's called PureRef and my partner Andy has been using it for his TV Animation job for years. You can add any images to it and move them around easily, unlike adding reference in photoshop. You can keep the 'canvas' in the background behind all your important windows and you can save reference folders of each canvas. It costs $7 to install but it's been worth it for me so far, thought I'd share it here too!

Here's the full sketch! This print will be 8 1/2 x 11 like the other Ghibli prints, and I'll also make a larger version that matches the other sizes as well. Again, this print is for patrons who paid on August 1st, but if you missed it I'll be giving Patrons a big shop discount as soon as Howl comes out, so don't fear, you can still pick it up with a bit of a discount, just not as little as the $10+$5 shipping! 

Here are some earlier sketches...This blue one below is the final procreate sketch I made at the beginning of August...I've been noodling on this sketch for almost the whole month! It's been nice to set it down and come back to it with fresh eyes, it's rare to have that luxury with sketches. 

This scratchier sketch below was my first procreate sketch, just getting the general stick figures and shapes blocked in so I knew where I was headed. Might incorporate those giant mountains back into my final somehow. I just don't want their shapes to compete with Howl's jacket- I want the first read of this print to be Howl and Sophie together- or immediately, Howl's jacket. 

And this awful monstrosity of a sketch below is my first photoshop rough sketch. I just wanted the two characters side by side with stars in a circular composition- and that's all I needed to get to the next steps!

Hope that was cool! Excited to share more soon!

xoxo nat