Computer Arts - USA (2019-09)

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01 The original

advertising image

that Knight used

as a reference.

02 Drawing over –

but not slavishly

tracing – the

original image to

create the upper

layer’s ink.

03 Next Knight

creates a solid

colour layer

and pastes the

linework onto it

using Multiply.

03

“Anaglyphs

create a simple

3D illusion

when viewed

with special

glasses”

01 02

COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COM

TRAVIS KNIGHT

Illustrator and artist

Travis Knight lives and works in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In college he

studied painting and drawing before moving to graphic design, where

he’s worked in the agency world for 10 years. During this time, he fell

in love with creating art digitally, and finds it ironic that he spends so

much time trying to make his work feel old and tactile.

http://www.dtknight.com

image to the corner of my canvas where I can

see it easily.

INKING

Next I digitally ‘ink’ the drawing. Typically, all of

my linework is done in one go. Working in black

and white helps ensure that I get the lines I

want. I could, at this step, draw in a layer mask

or ink in red, but that tends to slow me down.

PASTE TO LAYER MASK, MULTIPLY

To colour the linework, I like to create a solid

colour layer (red). Then I make a layer mask

where I will paste my linework. At this point I’ll

set it to Multiply and turn the opacity to around

20 per cent, just enough to see the red layer.

PROJECT HISTORY
Travis K night
‘The Bride’ is an original piece that I created
using a reference image as the base and
employing the anaglyph effect. This effect is
usually used to create a simple 3D illusion when
viewed with special glasses – those blue and red
ones they used to use for 3D movies.
I often use this effect in my work to explore
themes of duality, and also to pay homage to
B-movies of the ’50s and ’60s. Here I’ll give an
overview of my process and tell you a bit of what
I’m thinking as I work through the piece.

MY COLOUR PALETTE
In order to achieve the effect, I need to use
shades of blue and red. It can work with
other colours as well, but these are the most
traditional. Colour has been a challenge for me,
especially in the digital medium, where literally
any colour you can think of is at your disposal.
This colour palette was taken from a vintage
3D poster that I found at an antiques store. I
took a photo of it and sampled the colours in
Photoshop to create the palette. I’ve made some
tweaks to it since, but I find it works great with
the 3D glasses which I always send out with my
print orders.

RESEARCH
Vintage advertising illustrations and
photography give me endless inspiration. I love
the idealised, dream-like and hopeful world in
which these images take place.
For me, finding the right reference image is
key: I look for overall composition and facial
expression. The reference image is important,
but I always do a fair amount of editing in my
sketches as I go. Most of the time I start seeing
what will be happening in the under-layer as I
start to block in the drawing of the upper layer.

DRAWING THE UPPER LAYER
I block out the reference image to get the basic
composition. I find that it is really important
not to directly trace over the top of the image

• direct traces can sometimes feel stilted and
  emotionless. Working this way allows me to give
  the drawing some movement. Once the image is
  blocked in, I move a small copy of the reference

SEPTEMBER 2019 ANAGLYPH EFFECT