Loscon41

Woodcuts ~ and tapestries ~ at Loscon41.

Another set of pics:

Cards Came 8-]

Vista Print thumbprint image

Yay!  Cards came back from Vista Print and they're great!  Thumbprint doesn't do them justice.  I can scan one in, but basically it looks like the woodcut.

"Christmas Snack" for Schuyler House 2014

I ordered 100 blank cards for my growing collection.  One of these days I'll remember to offer them on etsy in time for folks to buy them for xmas.  I have 4 different cards available now.  ;- j

I'm really pleased with this approach.  I carved a black and white image ~ my wheelhouse ~ and then added pastels afterwards.  Works best with a print that isn't saturated.  A lighter print than I'd be happy with.  Worked great for the xmas cards 'cuz I could saturate the colors on the scan before I submitted it.  Worked great.

I'll have to see if  I can add pastels to a darker print now that it's had time to dry thoroughly.  I'm liking the pastel approach.  8-]

Ready to Upload to Vista Print

This is the image we'll upload to Vista Print shortly.  I framed up a print for the Loscon Art Show this weekend.  It was nicely positioned.

Pastel on Light Print

It had to sit for a day so I could appreciate it.  Right after I printed I wasn't sure I even had one good print.  Typical.  ;- j  This is a slightly lighter print, but the pastel really makes it pop.

And on a dark print:

Print is too dark for my taste, and is difficult to color with pastel.  Cray-pas can do it (on the brown) but it isn't a smooth-looking.  I can see if more drying will help the ink.

And on a "perfect" print.  Still harder to color.

Interesting experiment.  No wonder Belinda Del Pesco colors pale and ghost prints.  ;- ]  Much easier.

I have a couple more lighter prints I can play with.

Here's another one:

Paper

Broke down some more paper ~ Rives BFK this time.  I'll print on it and see if I like it better than the Arches 88.

I'll be adding pastel to the prints from yesterday (if they're dry yet).

Playing with Pastels

I printed out an image and played with cray pas and pastels.  I like the pastels better ~ finer control.  I'll color up a bw test print and see how that looks.

Pastel on an actual test print.  I had to switch to a brighter red to overpower the black ink.  Ditto gingerbread brown.

Now to print on Arches 88.

Pastel plays into my need for clean lines.  Tapping in color while printing is just too messy for my finicky nature.  ;- j

Bill measured his scanner bed ~ just about the right size (but that's ok, I already accounted for the xmas card being more narrow and long, and I already plan to lose some from the top and bottom).

Coming along.  8-]

First Test Prints

Not liking it at this stage.  Typical but not fun.

Test prints on sketch paper.  Tapping in is proving to be irritating.  I may try something else:  adding color afterwards.  Works for Belinda.  ;- }  I know, I'm not Belinda.

Breaking Down Paper

I've broken down the paper ~ Arches 88 ~ for a smooth finish.  If I decide to play with watercoloring afterward, I'll switch to BFK Rives for texture.

In the meantime, it's black and white ~ and tapped in color.

Slightly narrowed faux print, closer to the xmas card shape

Ready to Test Print

Looks done to me.  Ready for a test print (then any recarving necessary).  Tho I was pretty good at not carving too fine of lines this time.

Mirrored bw faux print.  Need to scan it (this is a photo).

Back to Carving

Back to carving.  Lots of fiddly bits.

Mirrored bw faux print.

Time for a break.  Not much left to do.  I'm really liking this bw version.  More my preferred style.  I'll tap color in (or wipe areas clean and watercolor them later...).  ;- .  Lots of ideas.

Carving the Tree

Working on the greenery today.

Taking a stretch break.  Coming along nicely.

Carving Wood Grain

Working on the table wood grain.  Enhancing what's there.

Flash pic.  Shows more grain.

Sketching in branches.

Flash pic.

Carving

Carving the rim.

Carving the steam.  And my chop.

Mirrored, bw.  Taking a break.

More Carving

More carvity carve.

Time for a break.

Back on Track

Sidelined with the fighter poem book, but now I'm back on track with the xmas card.  I'll be getting back to carving the block today.

Carving finally.  Waiting for the phone to send a pic to my email.

Time for lunch.

Xmas Card

Cartoon transferred.  Carving begins.

Carvity-carve.

Time for a break.

BW ~ More Variations

Coloring a print of a bw/color.

This one came out looking a bit green in the tree.  Gives me an idea.  What if I do 2 blocks, one with just the tree in green, one w/o the tree in bw with color tapped in?

Still fighting with the concept of color when my affinity is for bw.

I can do a foreground and a background block.  Foreground is everything but tree and table.  Background is table (red?) and tree (green).  BW foreground gets tapped in color.

B&W Variations

B&W with red ornaments and candy cane and brown gingerbread castle.  Rest is simply b&w, in spite of the blue cast.  Table might have wooden texture.  Color tapped in.

Another idea:  strictly b&w with white areas to be water-colored afterward.  (Actually the original idea.)

Cartoon Reversed (Carve Me)

Be sure to carve the reversed image!  Castle should be backwards.

Trim on the Rim

Not bad.  I like the holly.  Ornaments have to be smaller.  I'm liking it.

Sketching Composition

Zeroing in on the composition and the elements.  A couple pencil sketches w/ crayon.

Another possible element is a xmasy trim around the plate ~ holly and berries.

Can't seem to stop messing.

This is with a yellow trim on the plate and a yellow xmas ball.

More Mug Sketches

Pencil sketch w/ colored pencil.  Thought I could darken the color in Paint Shop, but I think I need to color darker (or switch to crayon).

Plate to big.

Same sketch, reworked.

And again.