Monday, January 21, 2008

Portrait of Now - Limited Series of 3





Yesterday I came up with this idea to do hand altered prints in limited sets. It came after a very long and very inspiring phone conversation with a friend. The kind of conversation that gets your heart pumping and positive ideas are eagerly bounced back and forth across the miles. After the phone call, with a hot ear (you know how it goes), I sat back in my computer chair staring at my Etsy shop and it came to me. I know other artists have done this before, but I thought of how I could do it in my own voice and style. I quickly got to work.

To share my process with you... I begin with a sketch on paper (usually with a Sharpie marker) which I scan and then save as a bitmap file. I bring that file into Illustrator to convert it into a sleeker lined design. I print out three prints of this Illustrator image and then sit down with my watercolor paints and oil pastels to make each one an original work of art!

I made a new set I will post after this today. I'm excited to do lots of these limited sets and I've created a new category in my Etsy shop especially for them called Altered Limited Editions


2 comments:

Kesha Bruce said...

Hey Jessica- I have a technical question for you.

Do you use any type of Spray fix on the inkjet prints before you begin adding color or do you just let the ink run?

In the past I've just let the ink do what it does, but I'm thinking about other options.

Just curious as to what you dosince you use watercolors.

Unknown said...

Hi Kesha,

I don't spray them with anything before I start altering them. I think it must have something to do with the Epson printer I use because I seem to recall trying this with my old hp printer and the ink bled with the paint. I wonder if a spray varnish would work with watercolors or if they'd bead up over the surface? Well, at least you could still use acrylic paints and maybe gouache.

Thanks for dropping by!