I’m going to go through the steps involved with creating The Mud Spaniel’, a recent illustration I came up with to illustrate the latest in the ‘Lesser-Known Dog Breeds’ series.
Initial rough sketch
Sketched using a digital 6b pencil in ProCreate.
2. Sketching in the other characters
I really liked the dynamic of the Spaniel bouncing off the other character’s heads.
3. Sketching in the background
Rather than use a reference picture, I tried to recall an area of marshland near my hometown where I always go walk when I’m back.
4. Colouring the Spaniel
You can see the palettes I used for the Spaniel and the other characters.
5. Colouring the other characters
With all the characters, I build up the tones using a digital watercolour brush set at 30% opacity.
6. Colouring the background
You can now see the background palette.
7. Colouring the sky and increasing the background tones
To increase the intensity of the background tones, I simply duplicated the background colour layer.
8. Adding shadow and hatching
I now add shadow and layer hatching on top of it to increase the sense of depth.
9. The finished cartoon
I added a bolder outline to the characters and some movement lines. I also increased the size of the Spaniel’s paws as that better fitted in with the accompanying story. I’ll post the full story soon and put a link here.
What’s next
I put out a Cartoon Newsletter, with a whole host of different characters, as well as occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the organge box below and I’ll wing a copy of the newsletter your way.