Mythical Type

I watched Elemental without knowing what to expect, because Disney’s marketing missed the mark (again). But I liked the movie overall. One of my favorite parts was seeing how each character used their element, like Ember inflating a hot air balloon.

I wanted to draw the scene with the hot air balloon floating over the city. I started with a pencil sketch. It’s rough. I wanted to figure out the foreground vs. the background and where the balloon was in the sky, in relation to the skyline.

Here’s a photo of when I was painting the larger areas. I simplified colors and composition (all those buildings!) because it’s so much detail.

Here’s the finished drawing.

Here’s an illustration of Bruce Wayne’s mansion (Wayne Manor). I really like how the blue highlights contrast against the black on the building and the trees.

Here’s the pencil sketch I started with.

Here’s an illustration of Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand from Arrested Development.

I started with a pencil sketch to draw the outline of each building.

Here’s an illustration of the Metropolis skyline at night.

I started with a pencil sketch to outline each building.

I started painting by covering the large areas first: slate gray for the sky, black for some buildings, and gray for some buildings.

Then I added in all the details.

Here’s an illustration inspired by a scene in Back to the Future: Marty walking into Hill Valley.

I made this as part of a course on illustrating with Posca pens. The assignment was to use two shades of the same color as the main colors in the piece. Since a lot of this image is grassy fields, I chose two shades of green. I kept Marty’s outfit realistic (orange vest and blue jeans) to signify that he’s out of place…or, more accurately, out of time.

Here are some thumbnail sketches I did prior to painting the scene. I wanted to test out colors–what looked good for the grass and Marty’s outfit.

And here’s the simple pencil sketch I started with.

I took an online course on illustrating with Posca pens taught by James Chapman. He has posted lots of his sketchbook pages to his Instagram.

I had a couple Posca pens for a few years, but I hadn’t done much with them. I saw this course and thought it would be a great way to practice with Posca pens.

The course covers how to create a pencil sketch to get the composition down. Then it explores various color schemes to determine how to color the illustration. I especially like the challenge of limiting the number of colors used.

I like the process I learned in this course. It takes me several hours to finish an illustration, but I really enjoy the time I’m spending learning and practicing. I’ll share my illustrations here as I finish them.

The course encourages choosing a theme that will motivate you to keep working on sketches. I chose places in movies, TV shows, and books. First up is The Candy Bar from Jimmy Neutron.

Here’s the pencil sketch:

I chose to go with realistic colors, so I used Posca pen colors that are close to what this location looks like in the show.

Here’s a progress photo, with the larger areas of color done:

And here’s the finished illustration:

I really enjoyed making this as my first attempt at a Posca pen illustration!