Part 3: Colouring with Photoshop

My Storybook Process

This part focuses on how I learned to digitally colour my existing drawings using Photoshop. With this newfound knowledge, it forced me to make some hard decisions on whether to keep salvaging the old drawings or let them go and start fresh because they either no longer fit with the new drawing style or the story have changed since.

2021 | October

Motivation kicked in again!

Four months later, motivation came back again to draw because a forever-talented-and-artsy friend came to visit and stayed with me. I took the opportunity to ask her for advice... and she showed me how easily it was to digitally colour in Photoshop.

Before/After in Photoshop

Mind. Freaking. Blown.

Suddenly my “final sketches” became my conceptual rough ideas for the coloured, more polished drawings.

Going HAM continues...

Pencil sketch of a Lion and a Bunny playing by a tree

2021 | December

Not every sketch made it to the end

The more I improved on my coloured drawings, the harder it was to justify keeping some of the initial sketches. Over time I've developed a certain style and consistent look to the characters that the old ones now seem out of place and inconsistent with the newer drawings.

This is one I had to scrap, despite really attached to it. Quite honestly, I think my newer version of this still doesn't measure up.

2022 | JANUARY

New Year, New Perspectives

Back at it again!

After a short break over the holidays, I was able to go back in with fresh eyes re-reading my story. I realized I rambled a lot, likely because I didn't spend enough time proofreading. To keep the story from going all over the place, I cut out a lot of content (entire chapters, even), including the drawings that went with it.

In memoriam...

Image thumbnails of inside pages of the first book draft

2022 | March

1st book draft

I had given myself a deadline to publish for March so I pushed really hard to get it going, but I learned there were WAY more things to figure out before that could happen (duh). So it ended up being just a decent 1st draft I can properly share with people to preview.

Moral of this story: Self-imposed deadline and stress is my jam to get sh*t done.

In hindsight, it really was the best decision not to rush things, because over time since then, my drawings have drastically improved, and my story flowed much better.

(aka not so longwinded and a lot less text lol)

Next: Colouring with Procreate