Drawing a Muse, Part 1

Ian of Studio Kyuu here

A friend of mine recently met his muse in the desert. He’s so inspired by her that as he told me about the way he met her, I was also inspired!

I’m drawing him a picture of his muse, and this is my work in progress. There are elements of character design and scene design in this WIP example. I also want to show that a drawing doesn’t just happen once — It’s brought together by experiments and pulling the best bits from every try!

First, I did a fast sketch using some big markers. I did it this way because the colors of the desert were so bold in my mind, I wanted to use bold colors too! With these big markers, I can give her body some form and put some marks on the ground to make it look like she’s standing on a wide, desert plain.

I liked the colors, but didn’t think I really understood her face or her pose. Altough the colors were nice and bright, I couldn’t do any details! So, next I took a pencil and focused on drawing her face and hair. From this drawing I started to understand her hair, dress, and sunglasses a bit more.

My next step was to think about doing the piece in watercolor. I love how raw and powerful markers can look, but I wondered if I could do the same thing with watercolors! I want to use a watercolor brush to get more control over the details I’ll need for her hair. But this drawing is for trying Color quality – can I get the bold colors that I want?

I also took the time to experiment with a different way of designing the page called “vignetting“. I didn’t like it I’ll return to the same composition I did with my first drawing up top, because it feels more like the desert fills everything up! I also think I’ll need to experiment more with my watercolors, to find a blue that I like better for the sky.

See you guys next time for more lessons and to continue this WIP!