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- Once I have decided on particular composition, I prepare a grey-scale drawing on a sheet of paper (DIN-A4 size). The illustration in this sample is destined to a book cover. Thus, the picture is to be strong and catch the eye of customers when placed among the rest of books in a shop window. It is important in book covers that the scene and action are directed to the reader.
- This illustration is good to work from memory and by deduction. The settings can be invented. Figures can be well solved from memory. Only the girl's position may be somehow difficult but you can look for the support of models or photos. The moonlight on the figures is merely deducted and will serve to separate the different grounds in the picture.
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- Selecting colours is not always so easy. I would recommend to prepare a few colour sketches to be on safe ground. If not, one can find surprises -for example, the need to re-paint the whole background because it is too light or too dark.
- It is also important to care for tones and avoid colours in contradiction. For instance, do no use a warm range of colours in the figure and then cold hues in the background if they are both illuminated by the same light.
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- I had to paint this book cover on paper, for I intended to use my particular technique for rocks and stones. The next step was having it drawn in the final paper. Covers are usually made quite big so that, when reproduced in a smaller size, they appear with more details. You don't need to include shades in the drawing, since they will be all covered with painting. You only need the most important lines as a guide, with more precision in the figures and less in the areas with no drawing responsibility, as rocks and sea. The sketch must be as clean as possible, for transparent layers of painting may allow pencil lines to be glimpsed. Pencils should be soft to avoid the lines scratch the paper.
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