Making of the Final Artwork for "O Gato e O Macaco" (The Cat and The Monkey)

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COLOR STUDIES:

Before starting the final artwork, I made some small color studies to decide on a consistent color palette for the entire book.  The Cat is a Fire Cat - so I wanted him to be reddish while the blue background contrasts the warm characters and the fire place.

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INKING THE FINAL DRAWINGS:

Once the drawings for the book were all finalized, I transferred the drawings to smooth hot press watercolor paper in a light pencil.  Then I used waterproof colored acrylic inks and a 102 nib crow quill dip pen to ink all the line work.
















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WATERCOLOR WASHES ON LINEWORK:

After I finished inking all the line work, I taped the paper to large masonite boards to keep the paper from wrinkling due to water washes. Then, I painted with watercolor and ink washes on top of the inked line work to create shadows and more color to the paintings.

And then after lots of painting.....the finished illustration!