This is actually an older process sheet I made up for the blog a while back but never got around to posting, my process still remains roughly the same for creative illustrations, except instead of just jumping into finishing the picture, I'd really solidify what I am rendering beforehand, probably with another layer with line, otherwise you might not know when to stop seeing things. This one was meant to be odd however so with something like this I guess It wouldn't be a big deal to go with the flow. anyway, hope this is useful to somebody reading. thanks for looking!

     Starting out with some rough thumbnail sketches for my new painting set to the theme of "Birth", I will likely choose the ones that speak to me the most (shapewise) Then go with the rough block  onto the next phase.. which will be the solidifying the subject phase. I think in terms of color dead last.. It's just something that I've accepted throughout my current process that I'm just not a color guy but I think more creatively in abstract things like this.For now i don't see it as a problem but something to work on, like everything else lol. Here's to making some nice new illustrations, thanks for looking!
-John

Decided that I draw a lot of creature stuff more than figurative and I'd like to think this is the start of some serious practice on the subject. The goal is to incorporate more humans in my drawings, so I'm analyzing some figures online, I left it pretty loose to show a bit of process. I'll be posting more as I go along. Thanks for looking.

Lately i've been working on developing draftsmanship, and I'm slowly but surely getting back to digital painting. I signed up for a comic expo in Ontario California during September so I'm hoping to have new pieces there.
Here is something I am working on lately that started as a thumbnail grey blurb.
Til Then

So during my long work hours last year, I ordered sets of Prismacolor Markers to use for my venture at getting better at using color this year. So Following is my attempt at making a process that feels right for beginning this crazy new medium. Hopefully in time I learn some tricks to skip some of these steps. One thing that I did learn is that I should probably cover the entire drawing in 10 percent neutral grey since i went back over the colors with it in the end. Also, depending on what value you want your base color to be in, use a darker shade of grey. I'm just playing it safe right now. Training wheels are still on!

Initial Line art.

10 percent grey to push some forms in while thinking about lighting facing creature from above

Went over with 30 percent grey, because I realized that I'd need to use 10 percent for the base tone

Used 50 percent grey for the deeper areas that light hardly hits.

Decided on green for the color, used Apple Green and went over the areas that would be mainly green.

Used Eggshell for the Horns and eyes and light ballet pink for the gums.

Used Lilac for the gums shading, then decided to further play with the shadows using 50 percent grey.

used blue slate for the neck and ear areas. I'm used to working in greyscale but I forget that color has a lot to do with using warm and cool colors to push and pop forms out alongside the main color that you use, Otherwise it remains looking flat..

Lastly I went over areas with 10, 30, and 50 percent greys as well as slate blue, I used a warm grey for the hair strands and a wet-tipped white watercolor pencil for highlights.. I know that highlights aren't always white in nature but hell use what you have right. I'll probably invest in some colored gel pens later on for colored highlights.

I Thought I'd post an update on this one, gone to color this time. Basically I chose a color pallet then stuck with it. Still lots to learn about color but Between color themes, Hue,Value, Saturation, Intensity and Temperature it is going to be a while before I master it. So this next year I'll be focusing more on color and or planning out my lighting in line before I even render. So far all of my digital art has been stroke by stroke and takes a long long time to finish to the point where I hate the painting. Not to mention my night job takes most of my time, I'm putting out paintings at a slower pace then I'd like.

Because I've been stuck on gray-scale island for some time now, I decided that Its time to get truly familiar with color. So I started at the very basics of it, with primaries.
I chose Red and moved my pen around until it looked like something that i could work with, which became a side view of a devil bust. I left my steps to show the stages.

I made a mistake in the beginning and chose a very saturated 100 percent red in my pallet, and it can be a little too hard on the eyes.

Lowering the saturation made it less hard to look at, it didn't affect the values doing so.

Dropped down to gray-scale I didn't do too bad, it could use some highlights and some darker areas.
Next time at the beginning, I'll keep a value range in mind that won't be 100 percent light or dark.
I'm hoping these studies will make it so that I will be able to choose a color pallet and be as comfortable working with them as I am with gray-scale values.

Its been a while since my last post!
This is something that 'm working on, I'll be posting updates on it while I go.
I'ts probably one of the last paintings I do straight from imagination because I'm finding that having a solid idea or line drawing might be faster than not knowing when to stop or what to add or even color when I do get to that point. Unless of course I want that spontaneity In a painting.
If there's no updates here in a while, I also have an instagram where I post sketches at, https://www.instagram.com/johnlopezart/