Painting a Double Page Spread
While writing chapter 2 of 7" Kara (oh hey, it's available in my store!), I decided that the time had come for my first double page spread. An excellent opportunity to let the story breathe presented itself halfway through the story, and I decided to take it.
I'd designed a wraparound cover not too long ago, and I decided to apply a lot of what I learned doing a black and white cover to watercolor pages.
This post is going to be a little out of chronological order, since I wasn't smart about saving my process.
When designing a double page spread (or a wraparound cover) you need to treat it as a whole, while taking into consideration possible pagebreaks or the spine.
This design, the cover to this year's ashcan, is pretty simple, I knew I'd be able to do a lot of tweaking in Photoshop, so I didn't spend a lot of time drawing unnecessary elements.
In Photoshop, I created a single file that was as large as both pages put together, and spread out my elements accordingly. As you can see, I replicated the single handprint all over the design, knowing that I could make each appear as an individual by varying how I paint the individual hands. I adjusted the placement of Kara as well as the paint pan so the overlap made visual sense.
After I arranged my elements, I cropped the image into two images, each the size of one page, and printed out the bluelines on cold press watercolor paper. I stretched both pages on one large lap board so that I could work on them simultaneously. This ensures color consistency.
This page is still unfinished, but it demonstrates working on the double page spread as a single unit.
These sort of spreads can be time consuming but rewarding. While it is possible to create a double page spread or a wraparound cover on a single large piece of paper, I find that I can get better detail by working across two sheets.
Of course, if you're going to go to all the trouble of designing a double page spread, you want to make sure it prints as a double page spread. I utilize Adobe InDesign to make sure my pages are laid out correctly.
I'd designed a wraparound cover not too long ago, and I decided to apply a lot of what I learned doing a black and white cover to watercolor pages.
This post is going to be a little out of chronological order, since I wasn't smart about saving my process.
When designing a double page spread (or a wraparound cover) you need to treat it as a whole, while taking into consideration possible pagebreaks or the spine.
This design, the cover to this year's ashcan, is pretty simple, I knew I'd be able to do a lot of tweaking in Photoshop, so I didn't spend a lot of time drawing unnecessary elements.
In Photoshop, I created a single file that was as large as both pages put together, and spread out my elements accordingly. As you can see, I replicated the single handprint all over the design, knowing that I could make each appear as an individual by varying how I paint the individual hands. I adjusted the placement of Kara as well as the paint pan so the overlap made visual sense.
After I arranged my elements, I cropped the image into two images, each the size of one page, and printed out the bluelines on cold press watercolor paper. I stretched both pages on one large lap board so that I could work on them simultaneously. This ensures color consistency.
These sort of spreads can be time consuming but rewarding. While it is possible to create a double page spread or a wraparound cover on a single large piece of paper, I find that I can get better detail by working across two sheets.
Of course, if you're going to go to all the trouble of designing a double page spread, you want to make sure it prints as a double page spread. I utilize Adobe InDesign to make sure my pages are laid out correctly.
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