Here are a couple preliminary gouache sketches I did for my piece for the Totoro Forest Project. I didn’t really need to do them, I just had my paints out and wanted to play around before starting.
Here’s the lineart – done with a G-nib pen and FW black ink. I love FW, but it often globs around and things can get messy quickly (like down there in the bottom right corner).
Then I added a couple layers of brush strokes and knocked out all of the unnecessary outlines. Here’s me playing with a bunch of colours.
In the end, I decided to keep the composition and colours very simple and uncluttered.
Also check out Clio Chang’s process sketches for her Totoro piece, Shedding.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Brilliant! Are the brushstroke layers on tracing paper or something? Or did you use a lightbox?
I wish I could afford to buy from the auction– there is so much great art in the show!
Great stuff Matt! I love this composition and these colours!
Thanks :) Yep, I used a lightbox. There’s one built into my drawing table. Very handy so I use it all the time.
Wow ! I really like the first one =)
I love this painting so so much.