Week 4: Digital v.s. Traditional
Emma K -
Greetings readers! We are now starting to enter the illustration stage! First things first, as mentioned in my last blog, the color yellow is going to be the main visual motif throughout the story. It symbolizes the gift of gratitude that I received while growing up and pass down in the present!
Today, I will be going through the pros and cons of both digital and traditional illustration, as well as the direction I decided to go with!
From the many picture books I’ve seen, the ones that caught my eye the most were the ones with rough, sketchy inking, but vibrant and meaningful coloring. “The Journey” by Aaron Becker was my biggest inspiration out of these books.
I wanted to choose the illustration method that would best allow me to emulate this kind of style, so I weighed my options carefully.
Traditional illustration was a strong candidate. First and foremost, I have many years of experience with various traditional mediums, such as acrylic, watercolor, pen, and charcoal. Since I am much more familiar with these materials, I would have an easier time with the rendering process and might be able to express the desired style better. However, it would still take a long time to finish, as I would have to reduce mistakes as much as possible, since my supplies (paints, bristol paper, etc.) are pretty limited.
On the other hand, I have less experience in digital illustration, but if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that the undo button becomes your greatest friend! This method, unlike traditional mediums, is much more forgiving, regardless of the “material” you use! This makes the illustration process much more efficient and allows me to experiment with different brushes and styles as much as I need without wasting materials. Through various texture brushes on Krita — the drawing program I have been using — I have access to many different brushes that mimic traditional mediums.
Moreover, the ability to scale the canvas up or down makes matching book printing formats later down the line way easier. Lastly, digital illustration doesn’t require as much space nor preparation to get the actual drawing process started, which makes my location a nearly irrelevant condition and gives me more flexibility!
In conclusion, I decided to go with digital illustration, but I will definitely be going through a lot of experimentation, practice, and (especially) rough drafts before the final product!
Thank you for reading and I will see you next Wednesday!
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