A rough digital mock-up of the layout of my Happy Serum painting. This is how I develop the final layout of the drawings before I transfer them and begin painting. When I actually transfer the images I’ll do the all of the background type first separately from the foreground images. After I finish painting that I’ll transfer the bottle and syringe and paint those. Creating the mock-up with all the aspects together lets me size and rotate the different parts of the painting until it all works together in a way I like.

Design for the Happy Serum syringe.

Design for the Happy Serum bottle.

Moving from thumbnails into a working sketch varies depending on the project, but most of them that have graphic backgrounds are worked completely independently from the foreground image(s). I basically make two paintings in one. I’ve learned that if I scan in the background painting before moving on to the foreground that I can use it for a variety of things on its own, like promotional images and even earring designs.

Here is the layout of the type I’ll have behind the images of my next painting. You might in fact not be able to read “Happy Serum” in the finished piece, so then the letters just become an abstract graphic element. Yes, I put a bunch of work into something you might not even be able to read in the end. Mock me if you must, but in the meanwhile I’ll have made a sweet little icon to represent the show that fits in with a piece that will be on display while still be a distinct and unique image on its own.