Largely self-taught illustrator Drew Blom talked with us about having work curated into the Art for Hope exhibit, his art making experience, and using SketchBook Pro Copic Edition.

Congratulations! How did it feel to be approached by Autodesk for this art show?

I was contacted by Chris Cheung at Autodesk to see if I was interested in contributing a piece for their Art For Hope benefit book in partnership with Viz Media. It was right around the time the Copic Edition of SketchBook Pro (SBP) was released. I planned everything digitally, printed out and did a traditional graphite rendering, scanned back in and used the new Copic settings to create the colors for my piece.

I was pretty humbled to asked to be part of the Art For Hope book. It’s a great cause, I was excited to work on the piece  – and excited to hear it was selected. It was quite an honor.

Unless you’re a big name who’s having their work reviewed all the time it is easy to work in a vacuum. I’m not a big name so it’s kind of fun to see that the piece is making an impression on others.

Anything you’d like viewers to keep in mind while viewing your piece?

The piece was created as a cover for my story Calvin Hedge and the Iron Golem. It’s a story about hope, so it was a natural fit for the anthology. The story is intended to be the first of a trilogy of YA fantasy novels. I am writing and illustrating a children’s book as a precursor to the world and characters early next year. The characters in the image were not just put in to fill the composition. They all have a part in the story. Knowing who the characters are really helps me as I work on the actual piece.

Calvin Hedge and the Iron Golem, Graphite, Strathmore 500, Digital, 11″ x 17″

How do you normally go about art making?

I use digital drawing tools like SketchBook Pro for planning because it’s easiest to change, but for the actual work (rendering and line art) I prefer traditional media.

Every artist has a preference for tools and it usually winds up being the ones they have the most control over. Graphite and colored pencil are my go-to most of the time. Markers and pen-and-ink techniques are also a part of my process. I like the digital tools available because of the speed and ease of making changes. But I am still a sucker for the texture and depth of traditional media. The computer does “perfect” really well. But the hand of the artist is more readily visible with traditional media.

I did a talk recently explaining the process a little bit here. My part starts about 20 minutes in:

I use traditional Copic markers as well and am planning on using them as a monochromatic underpainting layer for a children’s book I’m writing and illustrating. After that I go in with digital color, similar to the SketchBook piece. I just need to start building up my grayscale collection of Copics.

Underpainting is a technique that has been around for a long time. In traditional oils it is used to define value and texture before a full-color realization is done over the top.

Calvin Hedge and the Iron Golem, underpainting

With the piece above, I used graphite pencils for the values, lighting and materials. It’s my version of underpainting and brings in the texture of the traditional media I’m working with.

With my upcoming children’s book I’m exploring a new process where the initial planning of the composition is done with SBP. The piece is then printed off and traditional Copics are used to lay in value, lighting and texture to the scene. Once the values are defined and the edges are contained with colored pencil the piece is scanned back in and a full color treatment is done digitally. This allows the texture of the paper and the markers to build up as they naturally would in a 100% traditional piece but also allows for the speed of doing final colors digitally.

What makes Copic your marker of choice for that?

The Copics blend very well, and with a set of grays you can lay in value incrementally. I like to feel in control as I’m creating the piece and the Copics are very natural and easy to reign in.

Have you been using SketchBook Pro (SBP) very long?

In one way or another, I’ve been using SketchBook Pro since version 1.1. I started out using it for storyboards but now use it for a lot of other things like planning out my compositions and coloring my final pieces.

How about SketchBook Copic Edition?

I picked it up the day it was released. I did a pretty quick update when the announcement was posted.  I already was using the markers so it was a natural transition.

It’s is a very natural sketching tool. Because I work on a tablet computer, I appreciate the gesture-based navigation. For coloring it is a bit different than I’m used to for my comic work, which is based on laying down flat color for selection and then building up volume. Its closer to traditional media which makes it very easy to get started with. You can tell the software was developed from an artist’s perspective.

The Copic presets are helpful as well. The palettes make sense and are great for narrowing in on a limited palette. The brush presets make the transition from traditional to digital media pretty smooth.

Any advice to people wanting to give SBP Copic Edition a try?

If you’re used to traditional Copics you’ll be familiar with the color palette. And the actual use of the digital preset brushes is pretty close too. Just like with traditional markers you can’t lay in light color over darks. It was a bit odd at first because I was used to standard digital tools, but over time it became an advantage because it kept me in the same mindset from traditional to digital.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.

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Connect with Drew online: http://about.me/drewblom

To learn more about An Awesome Book and the Awesome World Foundation, which donates one book to charity for each book sold, visit www.veryawesomeworld.com.

What prompted you to create An Awesome Book?

I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Missoula, Montana. I’m a self taught artist. I originally wanted to go to college for architecture or illustration, but I realized early on that my art had its own ideas for me. I always had trouble following assignments when I was taking art classes in high school.  My teachers would think I was just being stubborn and give me a low grade. Of course I WAS being stubborn, but I was also trying to do something that felt really important to me.  My favorite thing to do was to just sit and draw without trying to control the outcome. It never really felt like I was drawing to make art.  It always felt more like drawing was a physical act that allowed me to think more clearly. Drawing in this way helped me find a place in myself where I could relax and get perspective on things.  I ended up travelling a lot after high school instead of furthering my schooling. During that time, my art felt more like a personal practice, something I needed to do for myself, and I rarely showed it to anyone.  I feel like it was really valuable for me to develop my art away from any kind of influence, and only start sharing it after I’ve been alone with it for awhile.

What is your earliest memory of drawing or making art?

My first memory of being creative was simply the act of pretending. It’s interesting to think back and try to remember what it use to feel like to pretend things as a child. Through simple actions, like rolling a toy car across the floor of my living room as a child, I was also taking part in an imagined, alternate scenario that was happening invisibly all around me.  I remember having really intense and sometimes frightening pretend experiences, then suddenly being called to dinner time.

The act of actually making pictures was a whole other story. When I was a kid, I wanted to draw well, really bad. I wanted to be good at coloring. I remember having a robot coloring book, and coloring each picture as carefully as possible. I remember getting my mom to color some of them, then trying to color as nicely as her. I use to enjoy trying to carefully cut out pictures from magazines with scissors. I’ve always wanted to be able to create delicate details and intricate scenes with my hands. I remember getting really discouraged when I was trying to draw in middle school, because I could sense so much possibility in each drawing, but my ability to draw felt far removed from the things I could imagine. I loved thinking my way through pretend, epic scenarios, visualizing alien worlds, and making movies in my head, but drawing didn’t feel like a place where I could document these kinds of thoughts until later. Drawing was something to sit and do carefully. I was a rowdy kid, and this is one of the few calm activities that could wind me down.

My Brother and I were both really affected by the early Star Wars Movies. Growing up with tons of alien action figures and a big set of wooden building blocks was a good thing. We would create entire scenes and light them with flash lights. We went through a destructive faze where we blew up a lot of our toys in an attempt to create movie special effects.

We were  really, really into comics too.  Something about that dynamic combining of words and pictures has always stuck with me. The way that my eyes interacted with the line work, the colors, and words on the page; the epic and strange mythological stories that seemingly continued endlessly, with dozens of characters, and multi-dimensional crossovers. It was the closest thing I had found to the kinds of things I liked to imagine in my own head.  It took me awhile to come back around to realizing that comics were the ultimate art form for me. Being able to tell stories with my drawings is a challenging and satisfying thing that I want to be exploring for years to come.

Tell us about the role different media play in your artistic life.

I love exploring different media, but drawing is really at the center of everything I do. I like building sculptural works, especially when they’re also wearable.  I’ve been working on some cut out paper characters for my brother to animate. I write. I’ve dabbled in music a bit. I paint, but too often these days.

When and How did you start using Copic Markers?

My good friends Teesha and Tracy Moore introduced me to the Copic Sketch markers and I fell in love with them instantly. I’ve been using them to color my new comic and they’ve been amazing. I wish I had an endless supply! They’ve really affected my work in a positive way.

Do you have a set process you go through when creating?

It’s always mutating. Right now I’ve got a little studio about 6 miles from my apartment. I ride my bike there in the morning. The bike ride itself feels like an important part of my process now. It gets me pumped up to really get focused when I get there. Sometimes I’m laying out dozens of pages all over the floor, sometimes I’m cutting out panels, gluing, or coloring. Sometimes I’ll spend all day just sitting and drawing on a single page. Like that it’s always changing. I’m about to start in on a really large installation piece at the Portland Airport, I’ve never done anything this large before, so I’m about to discover out an entirely new process.

What’s your favorite part about being an artist?

The personal experience of it. The constant discoveries and surprises that happen while working.

What is the worst part about being and artist?

It can be really challenging to make ends meet. I feel like making art is meant to be my full time job, but it doesn’t always  seem like that feeling matches up with the demands of society. It sort of feels like I have an imaginary job I go to every day and I’m hoping that one day it will be accepted as real. I’ve never quite felt like I’m on stable ground, but I’m truly thankful to be making art full time!

Do you have any advice for others looking for artistic inspiration?

I think that not enough can be said for simply being yourself in your work. I think that everyone has their own natural way of making art. Your art can only really start talking to you if you let your art have its way.

During my blog reading this week I found a great feature on Illustrator Abner Graboff. For those of you who dig children’s book illustration, especially stuff from the 50′s and 60′s, this is a great read. Portland, Oregon Illustrator Ward Jenkins did some research on Graboff and even did an interview with Graboff’s son Jon. Over three posts, Jenkins show off a lot of great images from Graboff’s books from the 50′s and 60′s.
Check it out: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Jenkins himself has recently released his first childrens book, “How to train with a T Rex and win 8 gold medals” about olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Great stuff.