Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Neversink Tree Interior

This was one of the most difficult pieces I've ever done.  The pencil version was extremely large for one of my drawings (done on 2 11x17 sheets taped together in back), and had to have enough detail to look good even when clipped out into small sections, which is how it was used in the book.  I don't think I did a good job getting the values to feel good in the scan (it's supposed to read as a silhouette and the interior detail should be secondary), but the printers got it right in the book, so I guess that's what matters.

24 comments:

mago - facebook said...

very good image expressive

Redbeard of the Shire said...

That is brilliant. How much time did you spend on this piece?

Eric Scales said...

Love it. Nice clear silhouette and interesting shapes throughout.

Gillibean said...

Wow very impressive! The shape of the tree is absolutely beautiful. I love the detail on it but the simplicity of the animals.

I think it's the prettiest tree I ever did saw!

Thomas Brissot said...

Really good ! I love the way each branch contributes to the overall gesture. Very nice design :)

Mark Robison said...

amazing tree and animal silhouettes. nice job sam.

Tal Rachmin said...

wow! very dynamic!

PIBBY said...

Excellent.

Anonymous said...

absolutely love the design

Og said...

Geez, yeah, that's GORGEOUS!

Aseph ( as-if ) :-) said...

Beautiful illustration!

Junko Miyakoshi said...

WOW!!
I love the shape and the negative space!

Cheers,
Junko

Aaron said...

nice movement in the tree!

Ryan said...

Yup, this is awesome.

Joshua Otero said...

Beautiful rendering, gesture, design and crisp silhouette.
I do have one question. How do you work so cleanly with pencil? I tend to be a smudge master, when I really don't want to be. I've tried the paper and cotton glove thing and even with those I still tend to smudge it. Do you have any tips ?

Sam Nielson said...

Thanks everyone!

Redbeard: I don't remember, but longer than I should have. I think I slated 10 hours each for the interior pieces and this one took between 15-20.

Joshua: Smudging has as much to do with the paper and pencil as it does with how your hand rubs across it. Get a paper with very little tooth and use a harder pencil and you might have less trouble (pencil brand matters too, the Derwent Graphic are okay, Cretacolor and Faber-Castell a little bit better. If you want the least smudging, use a Prismacolor Col-Erase. Each color responds differently, of course, but the black is relatively smudge-proof with the right paper (and with a small sheet of paper under your hand).

Manoj - Electronic Document conversion outsourcing said...

You are viewpoints are really right on in my opinion. Thank you. Keep up the good posting.

Bwolverton said...

Sam, will Walden Pond Press owe you more if I get the World Tree tattooed on me?

Sam Nielson said...

Barry: Do I dare ask where you're going to put it?

christine mae Engcoy said...

WOW! amazing tree. Its black and white. I appreciate it. I wish I could take pictures here for my cute souvenir. I suggest EPSON Ultra Premium Luster Photo Paper for effective and reliable output of images. I could make this a wall photo frame.
Good job.!

Mike Nassar said...

wow. this is so good, man. If the printer got it any better it must have been with magic.
Really nice piece.

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cristmae said...

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