I’ve been doing the Rare Words blog now for only about 2 months and in that time have done about 50 drawings. The response has been fantastic and it’s become the collaboration I had been hoping it would. I thought I would show a bit of the process behind one of my favorite submissions.

Trisha Alaniz submitted the phrase “relatively unscathed.” I begin each drawing in my sketchbook doing very small, loose thumbnails. If I find myself laboring over a drawing, a move onto the next one and will revisit it later. My first thoughts were to show some bodily harm that leaves the person still functioning (as you see from the 1 legged guy and the other split in half), but then the idea of a natural occurrence like a downed tree popped into my head driving home. Those doodles were done while driving and not looking down at the page!

I then pencil (again very loosely) onto a sheet of 9 x 12 watercolor paper. I knew I was going to ink this with a brush so I wanted the soft edges and dry brush effect that watercolor paper can give.

I scan the page in without erasing the pencils and as a grayscale image to retain the uneven blacks in the drawing. With all of the drawings, it’s been a goal to not be too precious with each drawing and to act on first instincts. While each drawing is colored in Photoshop, I used only flat colors and no textures that were not present in the drawing to begin with (ie. no fake backgrounds, gradients, etc.). I love the muted color palette in the finished piece.

Submit your own.