Ladies and Gentlemen—we are down to the final six of the Alphabooks characters! Are you ready? Well here we go!And in case you don't know what Alphabooks is, here’s the lowdown: Alphabooks is a blog in which all artists are welcome to draw a book character corresponding to the letter of the week. For instance, A for Aslan, B for Bilbo Baggins, etc. Feel free to check it out and participate! :)U is for Lady UnaStardust by Neil Gaiman
So I didn’t realize this before, but apparently Stardust the movie was based off of Stardust the book (by Neil Gaiman). I admit that I haven’t read the book, but definitely am putting it on my to-read list! If you’ve never seen the movie, you really should—it’s a wonderful story of adventure, romance, and everything you wish to find in good story. Plus, it’s a fun blend of medieval fantasy and steampunk—and you cannot go wrong with either! :)This is actually one of my most favorite pieces that I have done for Alphabooks. It was done in watercolor and ink (the scanner as usual messed up some of its colors, but it’s really not too far off from the original.) I tried to go for an art nouveau effect with minimal shading and bold outlines—in the same style as Alphonse Mucha. Also, one of the biggest things I learned from this piece was how to ink with a brush. And I’m glad that I tried using a brush, since a croquil pen can give a rough and scratchy appearance, whereas I wanted smooth vector-like lines (thank you Doug Tennapel for the helpful and fun tutorial!) I’m just really pleased with how it turned out! I want to do more pieces like this in similar design. I’m definitely going to make prints of her, and I’m contemplating selling the original, but I don’t know if I will be able to part with her. We’ll see. :) (8 hours)V is for Jean ValjeanLes Misérables by Victor Hugo
It isn’t unknown that I am one of the slowest readers in existence (especially compared to my book-loving friend Erin, who has practically read an entire library in her life), but at least I can still boast that I read the complete unabridged version of Les Misérables in tenth grade. And if you prefer classical literature to contemporary or fantasy, then I dearly hope that you have enjoyed this fantastic novel by Victor Hugo, which was also adapted into a musical and will soon be released in film.So the choice was plain for the letter V--Jean Valjean, the main character (in my opinion) and protagonist of the story. He is just so noble, and his story is about redemption and overcoming odds. I decided to keep it simple like the pen-and-ink illustrations in older literature—as well as to lack of time—and completed it in pencils. It was also good practice to draw an aging man’s face—narrower eyes followed by bags, a creased and weathered forehead, wispy greying hair, etc. One of the best pieces of advice I can give other artists is to try drawing out of your comfort zone—from time to time, draw things that you normally wouldn’t—it’ll really open your eyes and keep you sharp! (45 minutes).W is for Bruce WayneBatman comics by DC Comics
The last character for this batch is none other that Danananananananananana BATMAAAAN!!!!:D(And for those of you who don’t know, Bruce Wayne is the man behind the mask.)Okay, yes….so it is more inspired off of Batman Begins, the movie. Regardless, I can use all the practice I can to draw male faces because, well…I’ve really sucked in the past drawing them. And I can say with confidence that I am getting better.Biggest takeaway: Man…. it is SO hard to nail a specific person’s “look”. So this Bruce Wayne is based off of Christian Bale, the actor who played Wayne in Batman Begins. It’s incredible how it only takes one line out of place to make him look like someone completely different. For instance, the hair. If not done properly, I quickly discovered that Bruce Wayne can first look like Elvis Presley, then again like Bill Clinton—it wasn’t until I added some very minor tweaks to the hair on his forehead that WHAMMO!—Bruce finally appeared! (Which is funny, because it wasn’t until later that I realized he now looked a bit like Nicolas Cage. …..whatevs).Bottom line: Lighting es muy importante, hairstyle is key, and if you draw his lips too round, he’ll look more like a Calvin Klein model than the Caped Crusader.Fin. (4 hours)
