Writing a book is hard! Especially one like this. I’m sure you’ve seen this image…
But where did this image come from? It sure didn’t just come from my imagination!
So, to do an illustration I start with a sketch. I already know what the character is going to look like, since it’s my little Super Tess, and I’ll draw in a few houses in the background! I’m just going to do it on a normal sketchbook, but for the book, I’ll use a different method that I’ll explain later.
Now that I have my sketch, I simply go over the whole thing with inks, or in other words, ink pens and markers. I use ink because it doesn’t smear and rub off (usually) and leave a clean black line. The contrast between the black and white is really cool! Most of the lines are very thick, but the hair has white spots left in it to emulate light shining off of it, and there are little lines on darker parts of the clothes to imitate shadows.
Now that I have the inks, I can erase out the pencil marks and sign it. Always leave a signature!
Next up is putting it into the computer to add colors. I scanned it with my printer, then set that picture to multiply, so basically only the black lines show up on the computer. From there, I add on the base colors.
The tiny details on this image are made with little things called “Ben Day Dots,” which are how old comic books used to be printed. I wanted this aesthetic on Tessa and her world, since, after all, she is a superhero.
Different parts of the image are made in different digital layers, so the colors don’t bleed together. This can look funny if some of the layers aren’t put back on. The background will also have dots and hatching, but not as many as Tessa, or else they would draw your eye away.
And that’s how this image was made! The other illustrations follow a similar strategy, only are more complicated!
