Finding the key
Today, I'm showing you the process of how I created an illustration for Chapter Seven of Doug Karr's amazing novel Dwelling.
With another devastating cough, Dorian stumbled towards the windows and yanked up the bamboo blinds, revealing the retractable concertina grille secured to the sill. He grabbed at the padlock, suddenly panicked.
"Baby, where's the goddamn key?"
Experiments with ink and wax
Before starting the main illustration I did a few experiments with ink and wax. Candle wax was rubbed onto the key, then the key was heated with a lighter to warm the wax. The hot key was then pressed onto the paper, depositing some of the wax onto the surface. Ink was applied over the surface of the paper, this resisted the wax. Tissue was used to blot the paper and remove the excess ink, leaving an outline of the key.
Coins and Keys
For the main illustration I repeated the wax process with the key, warming the wax and pressing the key onto the paper. I then drew a series of circular shapes on the paper using the wax.
I applied layers of ink washes to the paper, allowing these to dry before applying more details.
Using drawing ink and a dip pen I applied details to the key and coin shapes. Where the wax surface was resisting the ink I scraped into the waxed surface and let the ink soak into the grooves.
Dorian grabbed at a change bowl on the far ledge and dumped it. Dropping to his knees, he fished through the nickels and dimes.
Althea knelt over in spasmodic contractions. Maybe her hardened lungs weren't so unsusceptible after all.
Dorian finally produced a key and leapt up. He tested it in the padlock, but it took solid seconds for him to realize that he was trying to push it in upside-down. Pulling apart the lock, he wrenched the grille aside.
"Baby, where's the goddamn key?"
You can read the 7th chapter of Doug Karr's novel Dwelling now!
