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February 04, 2008
Explorer Experiments
So, we are putting together a pre-Idiots'Fest program that will be happening up at the Lit House at WC on Thursday afternoon (4:30, if anyone's interested in dropping by). It's basically a talk about the kind of collaboration we do (the kind that makes books, not babies) - and so we've been going through old projects and seeing the different paths we've taken to get them to their finished states. Matthew has kept a box full of old papers and whatnot (which we all know I would have thrown away in a heartbeat), that have proven to be of great archaeological interest.
We found some failed initial attempts at the French Explorers, which must have been so bad in my estimation that Matthew claims never to have seen them before (though somebody must have dug them out of the trash). I remember drawing them and falling into a profound funk for a couple of days, because they didn't come out all magically like things sometimes do.
I think the magic of the final explorers lay in the paper - although, ultimately I think it was the combination of the paper and the gouache... the difference between the black and white versions and the color versions is pretty remarkable.
There's just something about adding the color that makes it pop. I learned in school that an illustration that isn't legible in black and white isn't going to be successful in color, but I have to say that the way I draw seems to always be greatly improved (legibility-wise) with color.
Anyway. It all goes to show that sometimes the right tools make a project. And that sometimes, when you're not feeling it, you're just not feeling it. And that you should just go into a funk for a couple of days and try again later.
Posted by ribbu at February 4, 2008 01:56 PM