Before beginning the rough sketch stage, I found models for the woman and bear and photographed them in a variety of poses, angles, and positions: of course, it is not possible to have a real bear as a model, so I found a young man to stand in. Natural sunlight is the perfect lighting for these reference shots—the illustration calls for the bear and woman to be located in a vineyard—so the photos were taken out doors.

I took 40 to 50 digital photos and headed back to the studio to see what I had. I used iPhoto software to transfer the photos from the digital camera to my G5 Macintosh computer. I then sorted through the images and picked out (flagged) the shots that would work best for my illustration. These images were then opened in Photoshop CS where they were manipulated to make them more suitable reference material. Any adjustment I could make in Photoshop will helped speed up the next step—the rough-pencil stage.

Note: I found the models at the local community college, Meramec Community College. The young man is Ryan Walters, and the young woman is Julie Wheat. They were both students of the college at the time of this project. In addition to their respective studies, Ryan worked part-time at the campus while Julie took on freelance modeling assignments. Both were excellent models.
I make an effort to take at least one class every semester at Meramec. It is a fantastic school where I not only learn a great deal but also have access to hundreds of talented people along with an array of amazing resources.