Art Eating Bindings
Don’t forget you illustration’s end result will be a bound book and thus some of the image in the center of the spread where the binding is is going to get lost. If an item goes into the binding it should also come out the other side. It’s more than a little unnerving to readers when the page seems to swallow things. So it’s a good idea not place anything important (ie. characters, text or objects important to the story) in the center inches of the spread. This makes for better compositions and makes sure your reader doesn’t miss anything important.
If the pages for the book are going to be [tooltip text=”Full bleed is a printing term that refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming. The bleed is the part of your illustration that extends out from the image cut line and allows the printer that small amount of space to move around paper so no white appears by accident.”]full bleed[/tooltip] adding 1/2 an inch bleed all the way around image is a good idea. Don’t put anything important there since it’s going to be cut off but also don’t leave it highly unfinished or blank either.
Breaking Perspective
Sometimes you have to break the rules to show all that’s needed in a scene. Like this dual two-point panoramic shot
or this dramatic warped perspective shot.
When making a story with true to life environments its a good idea to stick to the rules of linear perspective and only break them when it will further the story in some way. Good examples for breaking the rules of perspective are:
- To express heightened emotions like fear, anxiety or wonderment.
- To show multiple locations or angles not normally scene in true linear perspective.
- To add interest to an otherwise uninteresting scene or location.
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Painter Tool Tip
Under Edit > Preferences > Brush Tracking is a handy little customization tool. Each time you turn on Painter you should open up this tool and drag your style across your tablet. The Brush Tracking will record the way you in particular use a stylus and adjust your brushes accordingly. When I switch from pencil, to ink, to paint I redo my tracking. It only takes a second and can make a world of different in your artwork.
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This concludes the fourth segment of The Making of a Picture Book. Thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you will join me again for further installments.