Drawing From Props

	Shoe By Itself Props are real objects that are used as models for artists to draw from. As we all know, I like to draw things that are in my house. When I use them this way, they as called props. When I started Shoe Town I needed a shoe for the little mouse to live in. I thought it should be a little girl kind of shoe. I did not have one on hand, so I ended up going to the store and buying a pair of Mary Jane patent leather shoes for my mouse to live in. This is the one I drew in the book. Right next to the shoe you see a roll of tracing paper. I use a lot of tracing paper. At this stage of the book I am gathering props and sketching.
Sketches Of The Mouse's Shoe This picture shows a sketch of the mouse's shoe. When I am just starting a book I sketch a lot. I draw it again and again until I get it right. I think I actually changed the buckle a little bit and used one off of one of my old tap shoes.
	A Garden Hose I also needed a hose as a prop for this story. The little mouse keeps trying to fill a bath. I thought she might fill her shoe, like a bathtub, using a garden hose. It helps me a great deal to have real props to look at. I will often change their colors or size. Like the shoe, in reality it is black leather, but I made it purple in the book.
The End of the Real Hose Here you see the end of the real garden hose. It helps me to surround myself with the stuff that's in the book.
	The Mouse on Hand-Made Paper I am doing this book on hand-made paper. I start by drawing the picture using pencil. This hand-made paper is light brown and very absorbent so I paint over the part that I'm going to add color to using gesso. The gesso keeps the water color from sinking into the paper. The water color lays on top of the gesso and is brighter. It also allows me to take off some color if I need to. If I didn't put down the gesso, the watercolor would sink in and I couldn't get it off. The gesso allows me to experiment, put color on, take it off, change things. It also makes the color more vibrant. I have left the border brown. There are also some parts of the art which I have left brown.
Putting the Type on the Page. Here you can see that I've taped down the text on the page. Each page in Shoe Town has two lines of text. I tape it down so that I can balance the composition with the type in place. It won't look white like this when it is done. I just do it for placement.
	Starting to Add Color Once the gesso dries I can start putting in color. You see the purple in the shoe and the green hose. I am painting over the gesso using watercolor crayon made in Switzerland. They are called Caran D'Ache Neocolor II, water soluble painting crayons. They are really a fabulous sort of color, like color crayons that you get in a box but they become liquid when you put water with them. I used these throughout this book in combination with Winsor Newton watercolor and a brush. I like the rough quality, sort of like a coloring book, and also the vibrant color. I also like the color crayon look on the brown paper. This paper was made in France. It is called oat-wheat paper, I believe. It is very brownish and has big hunks of stuff that looks like hay in it.
Adding Detail Here I'm putting the fur and the detail in, deciding on exactly how this mouse is going to look for the whole book. This is the first finished picture I have drawn of the mouse, so I am still unsure of the look of each character. The first one is always the hardest because you're so unsure about what everyone looks like. After two or three paintings I'm in the rhythm and know what everyone looks like. Then it is alot easier.
	The End of the Hose in the Book Here are the end of the hose and the purple shoe on the almost finished page of the book. I don't want to go too far on these first spreads, I want to keep moving through the book. The style will established by the second or third painting. Then I come back and finish the first couple ones.


These pictures are available as: A Tour showing one at a time. A Contact Sheet showing all at once (could be slow).
	Suggestions or Questions? Please send me a message at rhinoink@aol.com