I find that a lot of making art is about tricking myself into not being too obsessive early in the art-making process. One way I do this is by working quickly and in miniature when I’m trying to make decisions in creating a graphic novel. By working small, I give myself permission to experiment and not be too precious or concerned with the final product.
For the coloring stage of the graphic novel process, where I am currently, I use tiny thumbnail paintings to experiment with color and mood for each page before committing to coloring the full page. This saves me money and time since watercolor paper is expensive and my time valuable (my book is due in two months!)
First, I print1 a few versions of my digitally inked drawings at a small scale onto watercolor paper. Each page spread is about 4” x 3” dimensions. Then I paint over the inks, trying out different watercolor palettes until I find one that fits the mood of the page, as well as the flow of the chapter and overall book.
Here are two color palettes I tried before settling on the third one:
Once I find a color palette that fits the mood of the page, I print out my ink drawings at full size on watercolor paper and paint over them.
Making these thumbnails might seem like it takes a lot of time, but it actually saves me time since I make these thumbnail paintings really quickly, and as a result, I rarely have to redo a full size page.
Working this way allows me to experiment more since I’m not worried about ruining a full size page, and I accidentally discover color palettes that might not work for that page, but will for a future one.
And, as a kid who loved dollhouses, I find something really satisfying working in miniature. Not to mention that these thumbnail paintings will be great pre-order gifts when this book is released in Fall of 2025 :)
Why I like to work small:
It keeps me from being too detail-oriented which isn’t appropriate at this stage when I’m just trying to figure things out.
I experiment more when working small since I’m not precious of the work
It helps me see the big picture more quickly.
Leif love
Leif’s happy by the warmer weather and all the new exciting smells—and rabbits—that are popping up all over the place. We could do with a little less enthusiasm (i.e. yanking the leash) on his part, but his joy at life is fun to see!
Do you find working small helpful when creating art? Or do you trick yourself some other way?
I use an Epson 3880 Stylus Pro printer, which is a fine art giclée printer. It can handle watercolor paper and the ink doesn’t bleed. But it’s huge and old and a bit finicky so I’m not sure I’d recommend it specifically.
One thing I love about this is that you actually use ink, paints and paper, rather than doing your art on a computer. Beautiful. The tactile nature of it shows through. I say this as a writer who dabbles occasionally with making visual art, mostly with colored pencils. Most of my work is done via a keyboard and a screen. But the ideas, the imagery visual or metaphorical, all comes to me when I'm tapping into the physical/emotional world. So, anyway, thank you for sharing this!
Hi there, I found you through the SAW community :) Your new graphic novel is looking amazing!
I create color thumbnails for paintings, in different ways. A lot of the time I just do a digital comp (saves time and paper). But if I want to test particular paint mixing properties, I do smaller watercolor studies, usually on cheaper paper. But even when I do that, I am prone to spending waaaay too much time and often they end up more detailed than I wanted. Can't help myself!