barbecuesilver-blog

[barbecuesilver-blog]

I decided to illustrate a book I am currently reading. It’s the seventh “Baltic Mission” of the Nathaniel Drinkwater series. Woodman is amazing at writing about the old sailing era.

A big question for me was: How many pictures do I want/have to draw? I considered rules like “One per chapter”. But I recognized that this rule was too restricted. It killed my creativity and my wish to show several scenes in one chapter.

So I felt a bit lost about this huge project. Especially I did not ever finish such a big one (illustrating a book with so many pages - around 200). I needed a plan how to approach it. The best way is to ask other people that have already finished big (or long term) projects. I ended up in searching for some tricks in the internet.

What part is worth to be illustrated? One approach  is to read the book and mark every part that could be worth drawing it. Either the scene looks so amazing in mind or the part is very important for myself while I read it. This idea is so simple! :) And it works for me. The decession what I want to illustrate has vanished. For now.

So what are my next steps? I will finish reading the book. After that I will choose the best of my marked. These chosen ones will be sketched ... But I won’t prohibit myself to start sketchin while reading the book! It is still fun, even if the sketches will not be part of my illustrations in the end :)

Why am I doing this? For several years now I want to illustrate a book. Not only a part of it. So it will be important to have a consistent style and color set. Also I want to improve my skills in watercolors. The sketches above are done digital. I am trying to get inspirations and new ideas at every corner I get to.

Goal?! A set of water color pictures that are related to each other by their look of the book “Baltic Mission”.