adding background to the drawing - grandma

 In this post I am going to focus on the process of creating the background for the grandma. I am once again going with the same idea of not outlining objects and just using the Plume Studio brush and the bucket fill tool to make the objects. 

Generally the idea for the grandma is to put her in like a peaceful room that would also have the floor and the wall color the same as it has in the 'mom' image and the 'dad' image. I wanted to show her wisdom therefore I decided to put a shelf of books next to her and a sofa. I think it may indicate that she is knowledgeable and reads a lot.

This is the first sketch I have created. I kind of liked the space I made, but there were a few elements missing. Firstly, a clock on the wall. I think it adds an old lady atmosphere. Another thing missing were obviously the books, but the books were of course on my to do list, but I wanted to really think them through, so it is not just a book shelf full of any sort of books. 

I have mentioned multiple times that I do not think the bucket tool is perfect, but I have not illustrated why I think that. 

As visible on the image above, the bucket tool tends to leave little spots that are not fully color, so sometimes I have to go over some lines again or create a layer, put it in between the layer with the colored object and and the background. Then on that layer I can add color and it does not have to be as precise as drawing on the layer with the object. It is a simple observation and a solution to the problem that can save me a lot of time. 

With the books, I decided to leave an Easter egg with them, and by Easter egg I mean a hidden message. I know many animation studios leave Easter eggs in their movies, so I think it is a good thing to try doing that sometimes as well. For example the Pixar Animation Studio, almost always leaves Easter eggs hinting their next movie. I think it is an interesting thing to do for the animators and it is fun for viewers to also try to guess what the Easter eggs mean. In Disney's 'Frozen' there is an Easter egg indicating that 'Frozen' is happening in the same universe as 'Tangled'. I decided to make my Easter egg indicate that the Amethyst planet is actually in the same universe as the Earth. I decided to make that by putting on the top two shelves pink/purple books and a globe presenting the Amethyst planet and o the two bottom shelves I decided to put green and blue books and a globe presenting the Earth. I want it seems like the grandma knows some stuff about the Earth but it is not something obvious and the globe of the Earth does not look exactly like the Earth because I want it too seem as if they knew something but not everything. 

This is the globe I created presenting the Amethyst planet. I created it by adding many shades of purple onto a circle shape and then smudging it with a Tache smudge brush. I think it looks very magical and that was definitely my goal. 

This is the finished design of the grandma in her room. I really like how it turned out and how she fits in this space. I think it looks cozy and good for a very wise and knowledgeable person.