The remote control coloring book is on its way. I recently got invited to help with a coloring book project by my brother who is part of the UtahRC community. It has been a project that they have wanted to do for some time. It's been a great opportunity so far!
The book will be available sometime in early September. When it is available, you will be able to buy your own copy by donating on the
UtahRC website. 100% of the first 3 months of proceeds will be donated to RC_4_A_Cure. They help those affected by cancer.
The actual drawing process is relatively simple. The hard part is getting good images to draw from. That's where people from the UtahRC community chipped in, sending in photos of their vehicles in action. UtahRC is still accepting cool and awesome images. Send them a message on
Facebook or e-mail at Chad@UtahRC.com.
Once I know what image to use, I import the image into Photoshop and add it to a new canvas (11 inch width x 8.5 inch high). I will sometimes manipulate the image for better cropping. Since the focus of the image is the vehicle, I will sometimes scale it up so that it works better as a color book image. The main process is to trace the original image. I make the original image about 40% transparent and add a new layer on top to draw on. The thing that makes the new drawing look great is the time spent on the details, but at the same time taking the details out because its for a coloring book. I try to look at the image in forms and shape and with a black and white flat perspective. This will allow the image to look good once its printed, ready to be colored on.
I think the greatest difficulty I have in creating the images is letting the vehicles still feel like RC cars. Since they are smaller than normal vehicles but just as detailed they sometimes look like they are full sized. This also makes it hard to orient the vehicle in the space. Its also hard to get the perspective right when people are in the image. I found it helpful with the people to make them pretty much an outline of shapes.
The great thing about this project is that it is for kids who are little and kids who have kids of their own. I'll be taking some time to color some of these on my tablet and posting them on Instagram. I'd like to see what other people do with the images too. Once you get your hands on the images, send photos to me on Facebook and Instagram so I can see your work.
Im looking forward to seeing what the final book will look like and future projects like this I will be able to do. Here is my Nieces and Nephew coloring on my drawings.
Eric Higgins
Sheepish Animation
Check out
UtahRC and all the stuff they've been doing to promote the book on
Facebook.
