Donato Ginacola on Sketching

I think the most enjoyable part of working with artists is seeing the sketches. Although technically raw, the looseness and freedom in sketches add a lot of grace to the imagery -- the ideas are fresh and immediate, implied without being spelled out. A heavy trick in illustration is making the final surpass the promise of the sketch. Not an easy task when everyone will imagine what the final will be in their own way.

I asked Donato Giancola about his sketching process:

Sketches are the beginning explorations of image making. By concentrating on formal qualities of composition and design and leave myself open to wonderful accidents and developments which arise through the process towards a final detailed painting. I cannot draw figures out of head very well thus I have no choice but to leave such elements raw and underdeveloped.

With that in mind, my preferred choice of media is toned paper worked with pencil and chalk. This allows me to place light and dark masses on a middle tone to explore lighting issues at a very early stage. The vagueness imparted through these structures insures that I can easily modify any details at the next stage.

Once I am able to ‘see’ my real models and actors play their parts, the intimate gestures and details which characterize my work suddenly blossom in the preliminary drawing.

IMAGES:
Sara Douglass’s The Crippled Angel, from Tor
Saron Lee and Steve Miller’s Balance of Trade, from Ace
Age of Empires game.