I thought up the Guardian at a very early age. Whenever I was afraid or embarrassed or alone, I would draw a Guardian. Usually a figure in armor with an item or weapon, and a mask. The mask was the essential part of the drawing. They were all different. It became such that I would draw a particular Guardian for a certain reason that they were "made" for:
A Protector or Guardian (Where I got the name for them all), a friend, a source of inner knowledge (if you practice yoga, you know what I'm talking about), and the Elemental or Galaxy Holder (a deity if you will). None have names, other than their title. Over the years, they have become more varied and more visually complex. I am now revisiting them in a series. One series of the Dark and one of the Light. There might be 5-13 in each series, haven't decided yet. Anyway, here is the first sketch!
For this, I wanted to imply texture, rather than masking it in Photoshop. I added soft highlights to the dress and sharp highlights to the shawl and shoes to imply a different fabric.
As the title suggests, I simplify my line work in one of a few ways. For this character, I dropped a high contrast scan in Adobe Illustrator and expanded the image.
This was one of those days where you set out to draw one thing and end up with something completely different. I have always struggled to draw the female form, but every once in a while, an idealized figure appears on the page against my will... I say against my will because when I drew this I had been trying to draw a man with a cowboy hat...
Success! The second, and final, color layer has been printed. This is what it looks like when everything (hopefully more clean, but I like to make a mess) has lined up exactly as it should and has gone according to plan.
And this is why we experiment. The only way I have ever printed on a large scale is by hand with a baren (circular tool used to smooth the paper over the inked linoleum). This time I wanted to see if I could print on an actual printing machine (an old type printer) and see if I could get a better print...