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Continuing on with creating an illustration of Table 52 in Chicago...

I taped this photo onto my lightbox and did a first trace, establishing the main lines of the building. I straightened up the distortion in the photo (its slight, but its there... the verticals in photos are rarely all truly vertical.)

I took out all the "uglies" that I mentioned in the last post.

I moved the middle tree to the right just a bit so the pretty window would show better. This also had the added benefit of hiding a bit of the "warming hut".
Then I did a really bold thing and added a tree that isn't even there on the right side!
Before I did that I stared at that side of the building and pondered how on earth to show the fire escape and fiddly bits of pipes and all, then also how to show that whole basically dead area.

"Why don't you just crop the whole piece and take that side off altogether?" you ask. Good question. Two things: 1. It needs to be there to balance out the rest of the piece and 2. because I'm doing this for a magazine and there is a size specification, I have to include exactly what I have in the picture to make the size work.
The added tree is in keeping with the two that are already there, and I honestly don't think anyone's going to have an issue with it. This is a case where that "artistic license" we all carry around comes in handy. You just have to know when and how to use it.

So now that I have the composition basically worked out to my satisfaction, I do another trace, tightening things up a bit, cleaning up the linework and adding a few more details.


I forgot to say before that I also took out the buildings in the background. Sometimes I leave them in, it depends. If a building is flanked by others, up close, or if the surrounding buildings help establish where this one "lives", or for some other good reason, I will leave them in, and maybe fade them out some.
In this case, the surrounding architecture does nothing to enhance this one, and also, this one is kind of 'stand alone' anyway, so I decided it didn't need any company on the page.

Also, the trees will be very "light" in feeling. I don't want them to overwhelm the picture. I will be taking out the snow in the photo as well, and putting Spring leaves on the trees (and taking out the Christmas lights they currently have wrapped around them). So the overall feel of the piece will be much different than the photo.


Next I put that last sketch on the light box and transfer the drawing to my final paper.
I'm using Lanaquarelle watercolor paper. I darkened the drawing up in Photoshop to show here. In reality its much much lighter, and so is the paper. But it does have a warmish cast to it, which will work nicely with the whole feel of the piece.

The next thing to do is choose a palette and start painting!

All images and content herein are © Paula Pertile and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

Book Expo rages on but for this blogger my convention center days are past. I'll do a nice recap of everything I've seen and done tomorrow, but allow me to say this much for now.

What I Learned:

• This it is unwise to wear painful shoes to a drink night and dinner in the hopes of "breaking them in". My feet have informed me that they will not be taking orders from me any longer. They somehow acquired an agent during the last few hours. I'll be speaking to them in a conference call tomorrow to discuss such issues as moving-from-the-couch and whether-I'll-ever-wear-those-damnable-shoes-again.
• That when one plans a Kidlit Drink Night during a conference one should not naturally assume that it will be a small crowd. One should, if one were thinking clearly, get a room at a nice bar or club.
  
• That cabs are apparently hard to come by around the Jacob Javits Conference Center. Who knew?
• That Marcus Zusak is not afraid to sign 200+ books, but them on tables in a restaurant, and have a different sentence in every single one.
  
• Did I mention my feet? Cause they're really putting up a fight right now. I think one of them is going to start verbally abusing me in a minute.