Brian Lies' Method

One of the highlights of Brian Lies' visit to Hollins was a slideshow about his process. Ironically, his method is remarkably similar to Mary Jane's, so they were a wonderful compliment to each other. Brian has a new book coming out soon, so I hope to have him back with more on his process. Meanwhile, this was his process for Bats at the Library.
     He does several sketches to come up with the right composition. As he pointed out, the first idea he has is often squared, straight, and not as interesting as his further developed ideas.
He draws in blue line.
And does a final sketch in black and white.
Which he transfers to strathmore.
He works in acrylics and sets his blacks in first.
Then he does a wash like MJ does - his base is Ultramarine mixed with Raw Umber.
Then he stes in his whites. He says this gives him his frame - the darkest and lightest values to work between. He loves working with the similar shades that play next to each other in the shadows.
He works with brushes as small as 00 to get all the tiny details done to achieve the amazing affects he does.
It was such a treat to see the images in real life, as they look superhuman in print! THANK YOU for sharing Brian!

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