Though Journey just came out this fall, the actual paintings were done more than two years ago, during the summer of 2011.  After spending about a year on the actual story (the boy wasn’t even in the original thumbnails!) I completed a final sketch dummy as a guide for the final artwork.  For some of the more architectural pieces, like the one above, I built the environments in a 3D program on the computer, to aid in figuring out the best composition, perspective, and lighting.  These computer renders were then used as reference for the final pencils, which were then transferred on to 300 lb watercolor paper.  A long process, but for me, it was the only way to get the level of detail I had in my head into the final drawings.  The images above show a bit about how I lay in the watercolor; I usually start with the background and then move forward.  All told, the 30 watercolors in Journey took me about six months to finish.