STEP ONE
I start off by loosely sketching various ideas on how to handle the topic. Some ideas don't go very far, others have glimmers in there that I want to hang onto. Here's a thumb of the idea I went with. It's a very rough thumb of my thought. (glimmer)

STEP TWO
I then take my thumb idea and start drawing it a a little tighter, capturing rough facial expression and placement. Again, this is still in a rough stage just to see if the idea will work in the end.

STEP FOUR
After the sketch is finalized and everything is placed where I want it, I do a color study. This is when I go through lots of color combinations. I think about the mood I want my final piece to have. I think about the meaning of colors...what they imply and what emotions they evoke. Here I chose a greenish-blue because it felt a little scared and lonely to me and a brigher yellow-green to spotlight the main character and give you the sense that she feels sick being in the center.

Photoshop makes it really easy to envision what the final painting will look like before I paint it...especially because once it's paint,
I can't change it.

STEP FIVE
Out comes the paint. I work from the color study to mix just the right colors. I changed them a little for the final...making them more intense. I also added the darker color in the hands to make the main character feel more trapped in the spotlight and to make them seem more menacing.

For this piece I used the silkscreening technique. This illustration required three different screens. After all the paint dried, I added a little linework to add details and finish it.

And last, but not least, I added my little PD to the bottom right.


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I will do a step by step show of the silkscreening process with another piece (I forgot to take photos of this one).

Coming soon!