by Benjamin Bailey

About Me
Hi, my name is Benjamin Bailey – you can call me Ben. I am an illustrator for The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves, and I want to give you a rundown on why I joined the project and the process I used to create my drawings for the book. So let's get started!

Why I Joined
I joined Sylvari because, surprisingly enough, I was invited. But the twist to the story is that I was invited by mistake – here's what happened: my editor, Chila Woychik, saw artwork on Facebook to which I was tagged to, and she thought that I had created the artwork. Still to this day, I'm not sure what drawings she saw, but the misunderstanding was quickly sorted out when I told her that: no, I didn't create that artwork, but here is a link to my site with my artwork. She liked my work, and the rest is history.

I decided to volunteer, and I joined Sylvari because it gave me a chance to be part of a published book – something I had not yet done. It also let me practice my drawing and teamwork skills – both of which have improved over the course of the six months I have worked on the book.

My Job
My part in the book project entailed drawing a number of illustrations for a short story – just one of many short stories collected to make up the book, all written by volunteers. Chila sent me a couple scripts for me to decide which particular story I wanted to illustrate, and I started out with a story called The Isle of Wight. But before my part in the project was through, I was illustrating four stories, with 12 illustrations in total, not counting my biography sketch.

The Process of Illustrating
Now I will give you a general idea of the process I used to create my illustrations for the book.

Choosing a story is the easy part. After reading the three or four scripts available, you choose your favorite. Now it is time to get down to business.

While reading the script, I make sure to sketch little thumbnails to get an idea of good compositions. (A composition being the arrangement of items in the scene.) Outlining character descriptions is also a good idea. After reading the script, I take the next few days to think about the best compositions, going over the key elements, such as primary characters, important plot points, and how far apart the art pieces should appear in the story. For instance, it is not smart to have close together two illustrations that tell a similar aspect of the story. Instead, I pace out the illustrations to correspond well with the length of the story. One last key thing to consider is that including the main character multiple times is an excellent way to establish a familiar face and to weave a thread of continuity among the drawings.

Choosing the best composition is done after I have drawn a slew of thumbnails. With many options from which to choose, I can see which one best fits the pacing of the story, includes the main character enough, and showcases the key elements of the plot, including the various locations (such as a castle, a dark tunnel, and a hillside vista.) But above all, finding a layout for an illustration that truly strikes me as both artistic and self-explanatory is best. If a drawing does not clearly convey what is going on, or does not appeal to the eye, it will neither be useful as a storytelling tool nor pleasant to look at. The ultimate goal is to tell the story in a nutshell through artwork. Depending on the length of the manuscript, I usually choose about three drawings per short story.

_Choosing your tools is key. Before starting the illustrations, it is best to have decided which mediums (ink, graphite, watercolor paints,) you are going to be using for that story. It would not make sense to switch from ink sketches to graphite drawings to watercolor paintings from illustration to illustration, as this would disrupt the continuity flow.

Drawing full-sized base sketches is the next step. I take my favorite compositions from the thumbnail sketches and proceed to lightly draw out the key elements on the page. I then scan these quick concept sketches and send them to the editor and art director for approval. When they give me the go-ahead, it is on to the next step.

Refining the base sketches is a long process, where I take the initial idea and refine the composition, character proportions, angles, and anything that hinders the storytelling. I have to keep in mind the style for the particular story and keep it consistent across the pieces, so that the readers can recognize the characters and not be distracted by conflicting art styles. As the sketch becomes more refined, I continue to scan my drawings into the computer to mark my progress. Once the outline sketch is completely ready, I move on to the shading/inking stage.

Inking is a great touch to add to a drawing, and graced a few of my illustrations with pen outlines to highlight the important aspects, before moving onto shading, where much of the line detail can be easily smudged out if one is careless.

Shading is another time-consuming process, but vital, as it helps bring life to the entire piece. I slowly add shading over the entire piece, layering on the shading until I am happy with the result. Before I scan in the final artwork to be digitally cleaned and refined, I send a quick scan to the editor and art director just to make sure I have not missed anything important. Once my piece is green-lit, I usually erase the excess smudging around the edges of the drawing, and scan in the piece one last time.

_Digitally refining the artwork is a painstaking process, but a very important one. This stage allows me to make minor adjustments to the characters themselves, such as the positioning of the eyes, to masking out minor errors such as scanned-in flecks of dust, hairs, or eraser bits. Besides all the nitty-gritty parts, I have to clean out the edges of the drawing, to leave the characters and objects crystal clear. After that comes the final step of choosing the contrast levels of the piece. By using a tool called Curves, I am able to delicately select the best amounts of darks and lights in the drawing, helping to bring the picture to life from its mundane grays to sharp blacks and bright whites. I then export a high-quality version of the image, send it to the Editor, Art Director, and layout designer, and I am ready for print.

A large cup of hot chocolate and a lengthy nap should follow for best results.

Many Thanks
I want to thank Chila Woychik for inviting me to become part of the project and allowing me to be so free in choosing which stories to illustrate, as well as supporting my work by giving me extreme creative license in how I portrayed the stories she sent me. Thanks also goes to Becky Minor, Art Director for The Book of Sylvari, who gave valuable insight into how to improve my artwork, by giving me critiques on proportions and composition. Thanks to Grace Bridges, author of The Ears Have It, for working with me on the illustrations for her story, and noticing when my work did not coincide with what was written in her story. Thanks to Anna O'Brien for sending me the artwork pieces for the book trailer. It has been an honor to work with all of you, and I have found it my great pleasure to be part of this project. May you all be blessed as you continue your journey of life!  ~BE
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Ben's a genius. You can tell him so here.

Benjamin Bailey is an all-around great guy - hey, after all, who can cook muffins and listen to Coldplay at the same time?  But no, seriously, Benjamin, born in 1991, has been pursuing artwork since he was 2 years old.  From sketching random characters to detailed portraits to 3D animation and filmmaking, as well as singing, novel writing, and the occasional romp through the wilds of nature.  As the Lead Illustrator columnist for Beyondaries, Benjamin is dedicated to bringing you top-notch, fresh news on creating the best artwork you can for your books.  Be prepared for awesomeness.



You can find Benjamin Bailey actively posting new artwork on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benjamindbailey, or detailing his adventures at his blog at www.benjamindbailey.com.

Benjamin was born in Nebraska and currently resides in West Virginia, working part time while studying for college and continuously taking on new, exciting projects to further the boundaries of his creative world.