HELP!!!! ------------ I have no idea how to do this!

[OnePotato]

Get yourself a 2H or 3H pencil for your initial sketch.
A harder lead will give you a lighter, less smearable initial drawing.

Once you have a light outline, you should be able to add color.
Then finally, you can add shading and dark lines with either a "black" colored pencil, or the 2B 4B.

If you want comic book style keylines, (outlines,) you can use ink.

Workable fixative is also a very good idea.

You might do well to try a pad of vellum finish bristol instead of paper.
This is basically cardstock, so it is nice and thick, and will not "indent" or curl the way some paper will if you press hard. Illustration board is also good.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[AJ]

Thanks MDR, creating a deck is more frustrating than I imagined! Here's a scan of the Empress I drew, before trying to color it, and ruined it, and in a dramatic fit, burned it

My first good laugh of the day, thanks!
If it were easy everyone would do it...

 

[sweet_intuition]

Thank you everyone for all your kind words of support and wonderful suggestions. I think I'm gonna first create them in BnW and then scan and print them to either color them in photoshop, or print them out and color them manually.

I re-did the Empress, and would so totally love to hear your thoughts. Note - I'm not a trained artist, all that I've learned is self-taught. So hence all kinds of feedback would be appreciated dearly!

Empress

Sorry for the bad quality, I don't have a scanner, hence taken the pic via my cell phone camera.

Thank You

Love and Blessings

 

[KarlThomas]

Hey Sweet.

All pragmatism here;

It might serve you to turn off your flash, if your phone allows that. Find as much courage as you can and do not wait for a time when there is "time" to draw. Every time I go into the studio, I need to postpone 5-12 "important" thigs in order to do so. When I re-emerge, all my urgent stuff is still there for me. You do not need more than 2 minutes of time to make it "worth it" to sit and work. There are different schools on that, but I find there is a freedom in being free to go to work "just for a sec". I get lots of big projects done that way, one quick work session follows another.

 

[blue_fusion]

I like the style so far. It reminds me of those 70s visionary art-inspired artworks I used to see in flaunt magazine. Anyway, you might also consider colouring it digitally. The plus with it is that it's easier to undo mistakes you make.

 

[Jaidyn]

I don't know if this helps or not, but on mine I have actually been using a standard #2 pencil (mechanical pencil with lead size .05) to *very lightly* sketch my cards. Then I color them with Faber Castle colored pencils, and there has been no problem at all with them smearing with the sketch lines.
Yes, I realize it's not a standard "art pencil" so to say, but it solved the problem for me.

 

[Ravenswing]

Robin wood's solution

Make your sketch on bristol board. Get it right--exactly as you want it. Cover it with tracing paper--make sure it's tight. Color the tracing paper.

The great thing is idf you don't like the way things are coming out, you trash the tracing paper--not your sketch.

Leave it on the bristol board and scan it. If you need to play a bit with it, throw it into Photoshop

I've attached one of the cards I did with this method.



fly well
raven

 

[Little Hare]

you have real talent! i love your drawings... I can so see this turning into a great workable reading deck

HUGS

Little Hare

 

[tigerlily]

Wow. Wish I had your talent. That Empress is really beautifully drawn. Don't give up, you'll figure out all the finer details...

 

[sacredashes]

Thanks MDR, creating a deck is more frustrating than I imagined! Here's a scan of the Empress I drew, before trying to color it, and ruined it, and in a dramatic fit, burned it

That is a shame; what happened to your Empress. The image is really sensual and I like your version of this card.

There are a couple of things you can explore before you find what works for you. Here are a few things I learned the hard way, I hope it helps. I'm not an art student myself so I can relate to what you're experiencing Hang in there, its good fun making your own deck.

I use mechanical pencil for the skeleton sketch and then ink the lines in lightly so I know where the boundaries are. Working with ink is sort of unforgiving, like your experience (with the lead and color mixed in together) but there are ways to to cover up unless its too far gone to save.

Thing about pencil is that it will smudge unless you use fixative over it or line it over with a fine tip pen first, wait for the ink to dry then erase of the pencil lines before coloring it in. Ink can be quite irreversible so if you do intend to use it, its a good idea to test it on the paper first, to see how it "behaves". Ball point pens don't bleed as easy as felt tip pens but always, with ink and paper you have to be careful with the lines.

If you'd like to try a medium that's fairly easy to manipulate for coloring, chalk pastels are easy to blend. They can get a little messy but you can clean up the smudges after with one of those kneadable art erasers and re-color over it. Like OnePotato mentioned before, workable fixative helps protect your work somewhat, especially if you're using chalk pastels or pencils (your 2B & 4B) coz they tend to smudge easily.

I've seen some work using color pencils that are amazing, so I think its also a matter of getting use to the medium you're using as well. If you can scan the image in and print a couple of copies for trial use like you mentioned, that will lower the risk of ruining your original sketch PLUS the print will already be lined out and smudge-proof. Only downside to this is that your work won't be on acid-free paper and that may mean that the paper will turn a little yellow faster over the years.

I hope you do continue creating your own deck, I really like your work so far.


Ash