Children Book Illustration Videos

A few weeks ago I received an
e-mail notice from Dani Jones
(Illustrator) who was plugging a free
weblink to a video on instructional
drawing techniques by Will Terry. Will is a well known childrens book
illustrator who is offering a number of video instructions on topics about his own tehnique as a childrens
book illustrator. His free video demonstrates his drawing techniques viewers will find very informative. After
viewing his video I decided to explore his blog and website portfolio. His web site is filled with exciting colorful illustrations. I especially like "Sledding".
I decided to view his video on "Digital Painting in Adobe Photoshop". I was very curious how he uses Adobe Photoshop and achieve the colorful style when he paints. The amount is a modest fee for $29.99 and well worth the money. After making my payment to Paypal I started viewing. Will begins his lesson by offering tips on using Adobe Photoshop using only the applications tools he needs to accomplish his work. He mentions setting up his image size and what modes he prefers to use. He demonstrates his next step and brings his sketches and thumbnails together. This finished grayscale image is scanned and placed on a separate layer. I did enjoy the section about using brushes and what he does to adjust the size, opacity and paint flow. His two main modes are normal and multiply making it possible to see the color above without affecting the grayscale image below. Will explains his method for creating his textured brush. He starts by using a house paintbrush and gel medium and applies this medium to the paper. He lets the painted paper dry and applies another layer of gel medium to bring out the peaks and valleys. Once the paper has dried he scans this into the computer and saves it so he can use and turn into a textured brush. Will continues and selects "Define the Pattern" to save the texture as a brush.
There are a number of illustrators on the web who explain how they achieve their own textured brushes. I encourage you to explore and experiment to achieve your own textured brushes. He goes through a series of steps to composite his sketch so he can scan and place this sketch on a separate layer in Photoshop. Another layer is added so he can paint over the grayscale image. He quickly adds paint on this layer and fills in as much of the blank area's as possible. I discovered that Will's paintings are created painstakingly slow. He adds color here and there or may decide to eliminate an entire area of color he just painted. I won't explain everything Will's video has to offer so viewers can discover for themselves what he has to offer.
His years of experience have given him the knowledge and patience to achieve the amazing work that he does.
Will Terry is not an Adobe Photoshop power user but he doesn't have to be, he knows just enough about Photoshop to complete his work. He may use the same circle brush for coloring, maybe change the size or hardness and thats all he needs to do and complete his work. I found watching this video was worth the time and money. I strongly suggest that you explore his videos as well. You can view all his videos at
http://willterry.com/coursesamples.html