As you can see I am working on a wide variety of prints. Some of them are for me and some are for a really cool project that I am involved with.

The first, which is on the left, is about one gigantic fish tale. Inspiration for this piece comes from a few different places.

The main source is based on stories told to me from my mother, aunt and uncle about my grandfather. He loved to fish and as grandma would later relate, he had to cook it himself. She is not a fish person. Yet he loved to fish off the pier. I didn’t want to draw the ocean and a pier, I have other thoughts for that. A really cool one too.

I actually wanted to put on the side of a lake. I could see this one pretty well in my head as began to lay it out. The kid just waiting to start, hunting the great one below.

As for the “big fish” that evolved as well. Especially after I had an incredible plate of eel sushi. So for me that would be the catch.

Now what you are looking at are the flats. Flats are the base colors that go down first. Sometimes these colors have nothing to do with the final piece and sometimes they do. The flats have been fun with this piece, though the leaves can be a pain in the butt. I still have to do the eel, the fish, the rocks, and the spirit stones.

Once I get that part done, I will than begin to add shadows and highlights. Each piece follows this simple formula. Lines, Flats, Shadows, Highlights. It makes putting a piece together much easier.

Now in this next piece. The Monkey King, the flats are done and I have advanced into shadows. I usually keep my shadows just as tight as my flats.

My color scheme is pretty set on this one and so it is much easier to tackle the shadows. I also play with gradients but extremely sparingly. I would much rather create the blends myself.

This piece is a little different as well. I changed the normal way I did clouds. I needed them to be a little more fluid.

It is part of a set. I will be posting the companion piece later. I have had a lot of fun with these two commissions and I am looking forward to finishing these three large color pieces soon. That will allow me to add 4 new prints this year to my print series.

Ok I have rattled on enough, so back to my imaginary world. Keep creating-

trav