Making a Renaissance Man Paper Doll

First things first - 2020 has not gone the way I had hoped.  My plan was to really swing for the fences this year! More projects, more paper dolls, more everything. That is not going to happen.

For anyone who doesn't know, my grandmother moved in with us about two and a half years ago. In that time, she's had five falls - two of which required hospitalization. The second of those major falls happened this past January.  She spent a week in Boston, three weeks in rehab, and will never make a *full* recovery.  Things are very different now than when she moved in.  I'm now her full-time caregiver in a much more hands-on capacity.  Because of this and raising two sons, the blog has become a much lower priority.  There simply isn't as much time to carefully craft the posts I would like to write. I've also found that creating bite-sized content on Instagram is easier for me so I'm trying to utilize that more. Feel free to follow me @julieamatthews. It's art and pictures of my kiddos and that's about it.

When I have time, I'll share projects and photos on the ol' blog.  That's what I'm doing today!

The next issue of the Paper Studio/OPDAG magazine (issues available here) will feature Renaissance art.  I decided to make a Renaissance Man.  He's a bit Henry the Eighth and somehow ended up looking a bit like my dad, too.

One of my goals for 2020 is to put pencil to paper more often.  I've been fully digital for a while and I'm finding my search for perfection (hello CTRL-Z!!) is holding me back a bit. I find a reference image online that I liked, printed it out, and drew from that.

In this image, the first panel is my reference image. Sometimes I sketch on top of my reference to get a feel for the pose.  The next panel is my first sketch. Hated it!  In the third panel, I traced my reference image to get a better sense of scale and pose.  I set that aside, looked at my reference again, and created another sketch.  The final panel is my last sketch laid over my reference photo.  I often do this to see if my scale, proportion, etc, is correct.

Here's the final sketch.  My scanner isn't great so I took a photo with my phone and loaded it to my computer.  Because I knew I wanted to line & color this digitally, I didn't worry a whole lot about resolution.  When I opened my working document I made sure the resolution was correct, then used the sketch to create final lines.  I always complete the lines of my paper dolls before I create outfits.

My favorite drawing program right now is Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.  It's free, available for most platforms, lightweight, and very user friendly. It's become a really important part of my workflow. Here, I have the lines on the face drawn in with a rough pencil brush. 

Once the doll was finalized, I sketched the outfits directly in Sketchbook, then lined them there as well. I also decided to color the images in Sketchbook.  For each section of colors, I filled in the flat color, duplicated the layer, then added shadows & highlights to the copy.  Sketchbook allows for some really nice blending and that's why I chose to color this way.

I like coloring in Sketchbook. It has a really natural, soft feel to it. The first panel here is a close-up of his face.  The second panel is the final doll, then a cape, and finally, a very regal outfit and hat. Again, I took quick pics with my phone of my screen so the quality isn't great! At this point, I'll open this in Photoshop to add textures and finalize the layout.

Remember those separate color and shadow layers? In Photoshop, I'll use them to create little texture sandwiches! First, I track down textures that I think will work.  I have a digital hoarding problem!! After searching through my hard drive, I found these textures and decided they'd be perfect. (Note: I'm sharing the link to those patterns because I love them - no compensation/advertising/etc.  It's really just because I love them.)

I chose a texture and placed it above the color layer and below the shadow layer.  Right-click on the texture and create a clipping mask.  That basically hides everything that isn't directly on top of the layer below.  Then, I set the shadow layer blend mode to Multiply.  Generally, I just tinker with the blend modes until I get the look I want.  For a more in-depth explanation of blend modes, check this article out.

And that's about it! I chose a background, colored it, then added a Renaissance style border and title, and shipped it off to the magazine.  Look for it in the magazine! I'll share it online at some point, too.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram & I'll post here when I can!