Page 32 Flats

Dear Diary,

I spent the day planning the composition for page 32, which show the kids climbing up the steep cliff wall. There are three kids climbing, a burro, a blue jay, and a cougar. The butterfly is impatient and has selfishly decided to fly ahead because his friends were going to slow.

I started painting in my usual chaotic way — painting the texture of the wall first — and then I remembered that I will save time if I flat the colors first. I’m a slow learner. The picture above shows the flats for the background colors. Tomorrow I’ll sketch the figures, ink them in, and then flat their colors on another layer.

For simple pictures flatting is overkill, but with four characters, each having a specific color palette, flatting saves time and makes it easier to make adjustments if that becomes necessary, which it probably will.

Page 31, Low Angle Looking Up, With Some Flats

Wow! The sky is filled with butterflies. Oh wow! They have to climb that cliff face!

I spent today working on this perspective picture. But before I that, I studied the rocks chapter in my copy of Jack Hamm’s Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes. It’s a great book with hundreds of illustrations showing how to create common subjects such as trees, mountains, rocks, clouds and waves. He breaks down the concepts into chunks that I can digest one inch at a time.

I’ll flat Jimmy Jay and Buddy Butterfly tomorrow. Right now I’m going to do my daily chore: washing the day’s dishes.