Nick's Rage Against the Machine Spot

[Caesar]

I guess the kids will report this weirdly populated story of their trip to their father who will illustrate it and get the award!
That's what I wish to You and believe you would certainly deserve because Your literary fantasy perfectly matches Your illustration genius.
The sketches are already little marvels for themselves.
Dear Nick, if I may ask, how do You get that marvellous foggy background for the drawings which seems to be such an inspiring and imaginative bed for think of and composing the scene?

[Nickillus]

I should have you do my promo Caesar. You are always so supportive. Thanks for that.

Regarding the mottled paper packground. You can have loads of fun making those. The way those work for me is to import various 'grungey' photos (both my own and free examples sourced from the Internet) as stencils - scale them to fill the space and use either the 'fill bucket' or whichever brush you fancy to apply a light tonal hue through it. I keep one textural stencil per layer and build up interest, playing with opacity, blending modes and then adding one or two layers over the top working more depth with watercolour, chalk and blender tools - sometimes through a stencil, sometimes not. It really depends on your personal taste. Just have fun.

And here's the best bit - Save the layered file, with all the stencils in place (hidden ready for retrieval at any time). By varying the opacity and blend modes of the different layers, adding more layers of specific detail etc, you have a base source to create a number of variations that can look quite different and offer a reusable resource. Make a couple of such files and keep them safe - it can save you a lot of time later on, and be fun to do - OK I'm a dweeb, sorry.

[Caesar]

Thank You very much, dear Nick, also for the time You spent explaining. I'm very grateful because a good background may be stimulating for creativity, harmony and also to better read across and see flaws or get some happy detail by chance I think ...

[Nickillus]

next . . .

[gioulin]

this backround is amazing! takes you back in time! it looks so old and ancient!maybe even forsaken too!
I love it haha!

you re making great environment atmosphere...

[Nickillus]

Thanks Gioulin.
Here's the next bit.

[Caesar]

We're definitely caged into Your story, dear Nick, so attractively Your illustrations take us through it ...

[Arjen Vriezekolk]

Got my first magazine "digital artist" trough the mail yesterday....the may issue..
Very nice insight from you Nick on the "Medusa" drawing....A bit different in style I thought, but I guess that was the whole purpose of the tutorial?

Love the dawing....would love to have it as a wallpaper on gloomy rainy days!

regards,

Arjen vriezekolk

[Nickillus]

Thanks Caesar - trapped into work for the moment so no progress in the tale, except in the thinking, which has taken a slight turn. The title is more likely to be 'Puns Upon a Time' now. Legacy of a storyteller with a speech impediment - rather like Chinese whispers.

Thanks Arjen. Yes I subscribe to Digital Artist as well - and it's an improving mag that is beginning to carve out its own identity now. INcreasingly useful and interesting.
They got in touch and asked if I'd be willing to do a workshop, but then commissioned one on a software I hardly ever use any more with a tool I use even less - go figure. Just to reinforce why I don't use Painter as much as I used to (even though I have version 12 upgrade on pre-order, just in case), it managed to corrupt a file on save and put me half a day behind on an already tight schedule - grrrrrr.

Wonder why I turned to AR and SKB a while back?

Here also is a WIP of a daft image I'm working on for something else. Lots of water and wetness to add to this. A fairy is taken unawares by the new irrigation system in the greenhouse. Working caption - 'Still think my hat looks silly?'

EDIT - and another WIP for that one

EDIT2 - the last one is as far as I got in the time I had. May go back to it later. Needs a ton more work

[Caesar]

Dear Nick, You don't lisp at all when You draw and paint, You eloquently and magniloquently state and narrate!
The cover looks very professional and elegant in its simple configuration and the WIP steps are also a marvellous visual tutorial on how to proceed with care for high quality standards.
Maybe You still have the problem of an higher throughput commercial rates disregarding artistic value would require, but I'm sure many people and myself first can perceive Your distinguished, differentiated style value.
I noticed You didn't make recourse to Serif's Drawplus to help with a perspective grid here, which made me remind I never really found the way to appropriately use that program to rotate and put in perspective a flat detail such as a door or else on an oblique wall or so, but it looks like neither You use very much those virtual helps to improve Your speed, so the result can be got anyway with old good manual rules.