I’m constantly trying to improve my skills in creating color illustrations. I’ve tried a number of techniques and media – colored pencils, markers, watercolors and Photoshop. All of the media have their benefits but so far there’s not one that I would use exclusively. The problem with paint, pencil or marker is that, while the colors might look great on paper, the scans I’m able to get leave something to be desired. The illustrations all need some adjustment in Photoshop. And I try to spend as little time in Photoshop as possible. The program is a black hole of noodling opportunities. I can zoom in and fiddle around getting a perfect look to a bug on a wall in the background of an image that the casual viewer wouldn’t notice was there. The more an illustration is done on paper the less time I’ll spend screwing with it once it’s scanned.

So … I regularly check out the work of other artists and, if they’re doing something I like, I try to add their techniques to my skill set. I recently happened across Adam Hughes’ DeviantArt site and got a bit of a clue about his workflow. It was enough of a clue to try some version of it on my own.

As I often do when trying out new techniques I started with a familiar subject – Frankenstein monsters. The art here is done with cool grey Prismacolor markers and black ink.

Tomorrow, the colorized version.