Deena Warner : Website design and Illustration
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Home > Behind the Scenes > "Making of" Photo Essays > Home Before Dark

 

:: Home Before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories, Volume Two


This was one of two ideas I presented to Gary and Paul. Since the cover for Graveyard People showed creatures advancing on Cedar Hill, we wanted this image to be right in the heart of the city.

 

 


For this second sketch, we added:

- reflection of the factory in every window

- "beasties" in the foreground and in the alleyway

- homeless man at far right

I started by sketching out the whole scene in pencil (which you can barely see in this image). Then I filled in the architectural elements: the diner window and awning. This is all done with marker so far.

I filled in some broad color areas with marker, then added some pastel gradients on the window and the road.


Here is a close-up of the window with some additional detail. You might note that I started to put some snow in the window, but I cut that before the final version.

You can also see the vague shapes of mannequins in the window more clearly here than on the final.

I left spaces open for my foreground people, such as the woman and her kids and the creatures in the alley. I like to create an environment and drop people into it. It tends to make the edges of the people crisper.


I was very nervous about starting the man in the foreground because his expression was the cornerstone of the entire image. I had to make him exhausted from a day at the factory and sad that he didn't have a family, but keep him hopeful for the future and complex enough to be interesting. Ack!

So, here I go . . .


Some more finished details and the start of the creatures in the alley.

I wanted the creatures to be very loose and nebulous -- just shadowy forms in the dark, really. It is as if you are seeing them out of the corner of your eye.

Whew! I was so happy when I finished his face that I snapped this picture.

Here is the final image as it looks on the easel.

And here is the final after post-production work in the computer. Pastels are awesome, but they're soft and fuzzy. I needed to add some dark areas and play with the lighting to get the effect I wanted.