Priscilla Burris & David Diaz- Illustrator tips: Tools and Techniqes

To begin with, Priscilla Burris gave a shout out to Kelly Light's website, ripplesketches.blogspot.com. Artists donate pieces to the site, and people can buy the art and all of the proceeds go funding for cleaning up the Gulf Coast. Dan Santat donated a piece that will be up for sale tonight, so check it out!

Priscilla mentioned that it's important for us illustrators to attend sessions for writers, too, while we're here at the conference. When she asked the group how many of us consider ourselves writer/illustrators, most of the group raised their hands.

Priscilla gave a bit of her background, which included going to fashion design school, and mentioned that one of her passions is drawing facial expressions. She handed out worksheets which prompted the group to practice drawing facial expressions on faces in different angles, different ages, and even characters showing strong expressions, shown only from the back.

David Diaz talked about his art background, and he's tried many different mediums over the years--everything from pastel, to digital, and at this point he does a lot of painting, typically on masonite.

David did a great demo to show us his current process, which went from a masonite panel with a house paint background, to a face made with charcoal, sprayed with fixative, painted with acrylic paint, covered in clear gesso, dried with a hair dryer, lined with rapidograph ink and a brush, and then back to some drawing with charcoal.

Two very different artists with great tips for the group!