Tuesday, August 16, 2011

SCBWI Illustrator Intensive: Jerry Pinkney

Continuing my coverage of the SCBWI Summer Conference Illustrator Intensive...


The last Illustrator Intensive session of the day was with Jerry Pinkney. Like Kadir, Jerry rarely works on a white background. His preferred medium: pencil and watercolor on paper.


He says he does a lot of layers, usually 5-6 layers on any given piece. He uses a lot of photo reference but also uses a mirror (like David Small) to study facial expressions and to help getting personality into his realistic depictions of animals.


Above: David Diaz assists with blow drying. :-)


Jerry says his uses a 2B pencil for the initial drawing and a #6 brush (especially for large washes). He works wet on dry. Paper: in the demo, he used Arch's Hotpress 300 lb so he didn't have to stretch it, but normally works on 140.


Above: E.B. Lewis checks out Jerry's brush.

Some other notes:

- Jerry prefers to work in silence or with a repeating CD.

- Advice to artists who are blocked: try a new palette, move the subject around, watch a related film

- Jerry says that sometimes he gets so involved in subtleties that he finds contrasts a challenge.

More info about Jerry Pinkney:

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