Hello, I'm an illustrator @ lady don't panic, you can also call me Lin don't panic. Illustration, an art category, is probably the most intuitive form of visual expression. Presenting its own imaginary picture is its unique charm beyond text and language. For how to use illustration to present a sense of dream, I have actually slowly sorted out and summarized my own system. Starting from this article, I will gradually share this knowledge and skills. The first article starts from the birth process of my current style.
"Girl's vision" and my vision
Before I came into contact with the iPad, I received a traditional subject education, and digital illustration was carried out with PS and hand-painted version like everyone else.
However, new changes have taken place since the introduction of iPad and procreate in 2018.
To be honest, compared with complex and comprehensive tools such as PS, early procreate did have some limitations, and this limitation also prompted me to start creating more cohesive or pure things.
When I consciously put my miscellaneous ideas together and presented pure aestheticism and romance, the "girl's vision" (girl's vision) series was gradually born.
This is a series of illustration works intertwined with dream and reality. It is silent and beautiful, lonely but colorful, with distinctive characteristics and personal brand. In the process of development, there are some different derivative series of "girls' vision", such as "people and things":
In fact, many people have asked me how this series was born. I think it's time to completely re sort out the whole creative logic behind this set of works in the past two years.
Looking back, in the process of forming my personal style, Hayao Miyazaki should have the greatest impact on me.
Dream: imagination space breaking through the logic of reality
At first, I realized this old "dream feeling" in Hayao Miyazaki's animated films.
Stills of the witch's house in a hurry
The most fascinating thing about dreams is that they break through the real boundaries of daily life, open up the environment and create wonders, but you will take everything for granted in your dreams.
Stills of Chihiro
This is the most intuitive, direct and accessible perception when watching Hayao Miyazaki's animation. This gradually immerses people into the display, including the countryside you are familiar with, the city you can understand, the trams and street lights you are familiar with, parents and children with clear relationships, friends and strangers.
Stills of Chihiro
Stills of Chihiro
Then, at a certain moment, subtle changes begin to occur. Then you are pulled into a magical dream by him. The tram carries travelers on the water, and love takes place on the flying Castle:
Stills of Chihiro
Stills of Hal's mobile Castle
Hayao Miyazaki, who experienced World War II, has his natural position and expression, but I am more fascinated by the frames he used to lay out the main idea, which are "the bottom noise of dreams".
"You can't use logic to make a movie, or from another point of view, everyone can make a movie with logic. But my way is not to use logic. I try to dig deep into my subconscious well. At a specific moment in the process, the cover will be opened and very different ideas and visions will be released. With these, I can make electricity It's gone. "
——Hayao Miyazaki, "interview with Chihiro: opening the lid of the subconscious"
They are rooted in the things of life, seamlessly connected with rural legends and legends, and have fine texture and rich details like real ones. The window paper between true and false has been pierced, and fantasy has penetrated into daily life. It is also true and fantasy, and it is very wonderful.
How are wonders created? Breaking a rule or logic, dreams are born.
Most of the "girls' visions" are based on this idea to dig a hole in the real world and let the light of dreams shine in. The maiden flying to the sky, the giant whale flying in the clouds and the giant elephant walking in the sky were born under this idea:
Perspective: build space with realistic skills
What's interesting is that the basis of "dream" is actually "reality". In terms of composition and details, careful and real depiction can really set off the "sense of wonder" of those who break the truth, which is the key to building contrast.
According to the sharing of animation supervisor Kenji Kamiyama, Hayao Miyazaki's "almost gifted" composition and perspective grasp ability is precisely a model for bringing changes to the whole field of animation painting.
"Most of the works supervised by Miyazaki are from a telescopic perspective, which is closer to the pictures seen and generated in the brain. That's why his paintings look more comfortable, because we are used to this kind of lens."
——"Shenshan Jianzhi interview -- starting from the beginning of" reality "and" calculation "
This "realistic" drawing method is similar to "human flesh camera":
Stills of the city of the sky
Stills of valley of the wind
Now we can use photography to create such works and figure out the perspective. My large scene description also refers to this "photographic perspective" for overall processing, including depth of field:
Hayao Miyazaki has clearly explained the right and wrong of the perspective of painting in the story of finding his mother for three thousand miles. These knowledge has been widely popularized with the development of the times. For today's illustrators, these knowledge and skills are not unfamiliar.
This close-up treatment ensures that Hayao Miyazaki's works never collapse regardless of close-up and long-range:
Stills of ghost princess
This delicate perspective processing method is worth learning. When I drew the series of "people and things" and "girls' vision", I did not lack this technique:
Element: nostalgia is a universal human emotion
In the past, Netease cloud music collected user comments into a book called "listening to any song is like singing yourself". In fact, for painters, it is the same when they create freely. Painting everything is like depicting their own dreams.
The most difficult thing to escape is always the shadow behind you and the imagination in the distance. Dream is imagination, nostalgia is shadow. Nostalgia is precisely the most common human emotion. For Hayao Miyazaki, the features and details of the old era are treasures at hand and storyboards that can be inserted with romance and stories:
Stills of "red pig"
For me, it is also an instinct to express with the help of my familiar old things. They are the most familiar "props", meaningful images and accessible memories. There are a large number of such things in my "people and things" series:
The presentation of old things should naturally match the colors of old things, but you can share the color matching in a separate article. If you are interested in iPad illustration, you can continue to follow my subsequent articles.
If you are interested in my style and want to study systematically, you might as well pay attention to my private room class. At present, it is in the limited time special offer 👉 https://pro.uisdc.com/detail/p_60e2ffbde4b0b2c421417893/6
