Still Learning, Still Colouring

 Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

– Leonardo da Vinci

Side-by-side digital illustration of a sleeping Rottweiler puppy: one in black-and-white line art, the other fully coloured with soft brown shading. Text above reads “Today I coloured a dog!” This image was created in Krita as part of a children’s book illustration for Little Goodbyes Press.




Today I coloured a dog. That’s it. That’s the post.

Okay, not quite but that’s how it felt. This little rottie took more layers than I expected: outline, fill, collar, tongue, then soft brown markings that I repainted… more than once. Then, right when I thought it was great my son mentioned that the head was too large!

I'm still learning how to use Krita. Still figuring out which brushes feel right, how to colour in a way that looks soft without smudging everything into one big blur, and it is starting to feel more comfortable to use the different features in the program.

Here’s how the layers stacked up and how I've been approaching each layer in the images for my book:

Starting with a simple sketch
Simple digital sketch of a sleeping Rottweiler puppy created in Krita as a children’s book illustration for Little Goodbyes Press.



Next is the final outline
Crisp black outline of a cartoon Rottweiler puppy in a sleeping pose, drawn in Krita as part of a digital illustration workflow for the book Bye-Bye Boobies published by Little Goodbyes Press



Onto the colouring starting with black fill (which is really a very, very dark blue)
Digital fill layer showing solid very dark blue colour applied to a Rottweiler puppy illustration in Krita, part of a children’s book artwork process for the book Bye-Bye, Boobies by Jacqueline Cooper published by Little Goodbyes Press.



Next came the red collar
Coloured Rottweiler puppy illustration with red collar added, showing progress in Krita digital colouring for a soft children’s book aesthetic.



Onto the tongue which the colours hopefully work once I get a proof copy.
Krita illustration of a sleeping Rottweiler puppy with pink tongue showing, used in a behind-the-scenes look at children’s book colouring stages by Jacqueline Cooper for the book Bye-Bye, Boobies



Brown highlights and final shading
Digitally coloured Rottweiler puppy with brown shading, tongue, and red collar, demonstrating Krita layering techniques for a soft, storybook style image in the book Bye-Bye, Boobies by Jacqueline Cooper published by Little Goodbyes Press.



Final resized coloured version with the smaller head!

Completed Krita illustration of a cartoon Rottweiler puppy sleeping, created for a picture book project by Little Goodbyes Press.



Each step feels small, but together they make something I’m starting to feel really proud of.

It’s a slow process for me right now but it’s mine. And if I need to redo a nose or shade the same paw three times, I just do. No pressure. No rush.

Just learning. Just colouring.

You can find more at littlegoodbyes.ca, including book news and free printables.

Popular posts from this blog

Working with Scribus: A Free InDesign Alternative for Book Layouts

Image
"In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny." – Linus Torvalds When I first started preparing Bye-Bye, Boobies for IngramSpark's hardcover printing process, I quickly realized how many publishing programs come with a heavy price tag. Adobe InDesign is the most common desktop publishing software that comes up over and over, but the subscription alone can add up to hundreds of dollars a year. As an indie author, I needed another way. ISBNs in Canada (and Why I’m Using IngramSpark) That’s when I turned to Scribus . Scribus is a free, open-source book layout and typesetting program aka desktop publishing software. While the interface may not be flashy, it gives me the same control over trim size, margins, bleeds, and spine guides that paid software programs do. Once I got used to its quirks, it became a reliable part of my process. Tip: Keep all of the files that you are uploading into Scribus in one folder and save the finished file in that same fo...
Read more