2012/02/11

Illustration Workshop with Aljoscha Blau

On January 21st I attended a workshop on illustration hosted by the Berlin-based illustrator Aljoscha Blau (http://aljoschablau.com/). In short: It was amazing. For the longer version read on.


It was one of the events that our local artists supply offers regularly. Therefore all the materials we might have needed were included and I could hardly wait to try them. In the end we worked with Gouache. It was quite interesting to try it and I found that I don't like it. I think watercolor/aquarelle is more my thing, not that I have tried it recently, but the colors seem to be more luminous than Gouache.



So after Aljoscha had introduced us to illustration in general and showed us different styles, he showed us how to prepare the paper.


Afterwards he demonstrated the succession of steps to get to an illustration. We wanted to see him inventing a "Fishfrog" (No, not a pollywog!) and this is what he came up with (drew) in a matter of seconds.



After masking it (a technique completely new to me), he created the background for the "Fishfrog".



After the Gouache had dried, and we had started with our own illustrations, he further created and painted the unmasked "Fishfrog".



The finished "Fishfrog".
On the left side of the paper he showed us some effects of the Gouache.

Naturally, the time flew by in a moment and I guess all of us attendees could've watched Aljoscha illustrating for hours on end. It's absolutely fascinating to see the process. And it is also exhilarating to illustrate myself.

1 comment:

  1. Looks like a really inspiring workshop. Also enjoyed your recent photo story (see comment below).

    ReplyDelete