August's Print / Dragon Wanderer WIP

Hello~~ hope everyone's having a wonderful end of summer and start to the fall season.

I'm all finished coloring and drawing August's print, and it's really taken a journey. I'm printing today, so hopefully I'll be able to share some finals soon. I can already tell this print might be a really tough one, especially because there are so many blues in this piece. I have a hard time going from blue RGB on my computer (much brighter and warmer toned) to seeing it in print (darker, grainier, and cooler-toned), despite trying to match the RGB colors to the print colors. This is just part of printing, and I have to anticipate my RGB mock-up version looking decently different from my final printed piece. It's part of the charm, and helps break me of my illusions that I can fully. be in control of my work. Making art is a daily lesson in spontaneity and letting my intuition react.

Quick note, I wanted to share that I'll be at RAZ (Riso Art & Zine) fest in Alhambra/Los Angeles at Gallery Nucleus this Saturday from 11am to 5pm. It's a show I help curate with Gallery Nucleus to showcase excellent Riso art both LA and across the US! It's getting bigger and bigger and this year we have 50+ artists joining us! Come stop by if you want to see the full range of what Riso can do and the many talented artists using it!

RAZ fest image drawn by Kris Mukai and Printed by Karina at PunchKissPress!

Dragon Warrior // Sketch Process

First Sketch + Color Sketch
I wanted to make the sketch and the color sketch at the same time for this one, since it'll be the third in the series and I wanted to jump into it knowing how the color would fit with the other two prints. I simultaneously sketched and painted big shapes to understand how everything would generally fit, choosing colors spontaneously and then editing the colors afterwards, and playing off adjacent colors and values.

Redrawn dragon
Halfway through the sketch I realized I wasn't loving the bottom dragon and asked my partner Andy for help. He suggested making the dragon warmer, possibly less fierce? So I tried out a couple of softer poses and this one looking back at the 'Wanderer' was my favorite! I don't have those other sketches because I literally draw and erase on the same layer, as if I'm working directly on my sketchbook- just with an endless amount of edits.

Final sketch
Here's the sketch I actually drew on top of- sometimes I like to turn the line art blue or red, but this time I wanted to see the details of my sketch a little better while drawing the final line. I like to keep the spontaneity of my sketch so I'll follow some 'wrong' looking lines so the final line art doesnt feel stiff.

Final line!
Here's how I'm usually working with low opacity sketch below the line. I changed a lot in the final to balance certain shapes and 'riff' off of negative space. I love to fill the canvas with as much as I can, while still leaving some breathing room for the eye.

And it's ready for flats and color!!
Flats are my way of separating the shapes for final color. I don't think about color here, sometimes if I'm really struggling with the color I will, but usually I'm just trying to get the correct shapes down as quickly as possible.

Color!!!
I jumped right into coloring these using my three typical Blue / Fluo Pink / Yellow combination. I make a group for each color, then add 4 opacities inside each group: 25, 50, 75, and 100% opacities, all set to multiply. I like to imagine I'm working on a lightbox, and i can see each color transparently on top of one another and I can see them separated if I move my papers.

I slowly added each color- thinking 'hmm I want this dragon to be a warm pink, how about 100% pink, and 50% yellow for this shape I've made in my flats.'

I'll add the gradients generally at the end and turn on and off all my layers to see if there's a more ideal color or value that could pop in it's place. It's a push and pull process, and I make sure I don't feel rushed for it. I like to spend a lot of time sitting with the colors, walking away from the piece and coming back with fresh eyes, and looking back at the other prints and color sketches to make sure the essence of my initial idea is still strong. It's easy to lose sight of what made me drawn to the first color sketch! But I'm not beholden to it at the same time.

Now, time to print!!
Thanks so much for reading- will be back soon with the final breakdown!

xoxo natalie