Hi!

I decided to do two illustrations, so I could follow along with the simple steps and the more complex one. I might as well post them both here.

For the simple one, my first thought was a fairy child holding an umbrella over an insect in the rain. To make it different to similar images I've seen, I decided to make her a dark fairy. I made a moodboard out of pictures of dark fairies and fairy children, plus some butterfly washi tape and mushroom stickers - I love mushrooms in fairy pictures. At this point I was planning on giving her an umbrella made from an acorn top.

Two Illustrations - image 1 - student project

This was my page of sketches as I tried to design the fairy herself.

Two Illustrations - image 2 - student project

You can see the bleed-through from a marker drawing on the back, but that's part of the other illustration. There are a few on here I hate, but I'm glad I tried them. I ended up settling on this one.

Two Illustrations - image 3 - student project

Then I did a page of thumbnails, and ended up choosing the first idea with a few alterations.

Two Illustrations - image 4 - student project

This was my initial sketch. I changed the umbrella here, because I had this nut casing that I'd picked up in a park a few weeks before. I don't know what it is, but it suits a dark fairy better than an acorn, and it's less cliched.

Two Illustrations - image 5 - student project

I wanted her to be in a bramble patch, so I used the brambles to frame it. It might seem odd to see a butterfly in amongst thorns, but I've seen them fly into bramble bushes as if their wings weren't incredibly delicate!

This is the line art stage.

Two Illustrations - image 6 - student project

Her proportions are more childlike here than they ended up. This one also has the best versions of the raindrops.

Next I did some colour thumbnails and circled what I liked from each.

Two Illustrations - image 7 - student project

Then I did a final piece. I redrew it for this stage, so I could keep every step separate for future reference. I used colouring pencils for the thumbnails, but I'm not very comfortable with them, so I chose watercolour for the final picture.

Two Illustrations - image 8 - student project

I made the mistake of using water brushes, which I don't have great control over, for the background and brambles, so they're a bit patchy. I used a brush for the rest. When it dried I outlined it with fineliners and added the raindrops and some highlights with a white gel pen.

I wanted it to have a bleakish mood, since it's rain in a patch of brambles, and that's why I kept the background grey. I feel like I got that pretty well.

If you look closely, you can see a join at the wrist. The umbrella hand came out really badly, so I redrew it and glued the new one on.

I'm really happy with this. Part way through colouring, I thought it was all going wrong, but I ended up loving it. I think there's more I could do with the raindrops, and if I did it bigger I could put more shading in her skin, but on the other hand, I love the shadows under the mushrooms and her wings.

And that was the 'simple' one, which ended up being more complex than I intended.

For the other one, I knew straight away what I wanted to do. I plan to write a comic/graphic novel. I only have a basic outline of the story and one character design, so it won't be written for a long time, but I have one scene really clear in my head, so I decided to use that.

The scene will be set in a mine, so my moodboard is full of images of mines, plus a colour scheme I didn't quite stick to and the character I'd already designed.

Two Illustrations - image 9 - student project

My bad handwriting at the top says "A last-minute realisation of betrayal, too late to save the world." - which is all I'll say about the story.

Since Holly's design was already finished, I didn't need a sheet for that, so I did a sheet of different expressions and angles instead, plus some sketches of mine type stuff.

Two Illustrations - image 10 - student project

I thought I'd set myself a hard challenge by using a character who can only emote with half her face, but actually it worked out fine.

I used an app called PoseIt to get the position, then printed out different angles on it and glued them on the page with the thumbnails.

Two Illustrations - image 11 - student project

Once again, I ended up going back to the first idea, although I like the bottom right too.

I did two sketches, because I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be portrait, focusing entirely on Holly, or landscape to show some of the background.

Two Illustrations - image 12 - student project

I chose landscape because it makes her look small and that gives a more hopeless feeling.

Before doing line art, I did a few practices of the motion blur effect Jazza explained, because I'd never tried that before.

Two Illustrations - image 13 - student project

Some worked, some didn't.

Then I did the line art and moved a few background elements around.

Two Illustrations - image 14 - student project

I wanted her to look like she was lunging forward, not just reaching, but I couldn't get it to look right. Foreshortening and perspective are things I'm working on.

I did a small, separate picture to practice the tips given for markers. I'm still learning how to use them, so I wanted to follow Jazza's tips for two different skin tones.

Two Illustrations - image 15 - student project

The boy is the one she's trying to warn in the other image, but I don't have a proper design for him yet, so this was thrown together for a practice picture and is definitely subject to change. It was a mistake to try to make it look like there was another lightning flash I front of them, but it gave me the practice I needed. It was at this point that I finally remembered that the buttons are on the black part of her outfit, not the orange.

I did the colour thumbnails in pencil again, starting from my planned grey background and ending up with a more interesting and potentially symbolic setting - although I don't think it needs to be symbolic.

Two Illustrations - image 16 - student project

Finally, I created the picture. The character is done in alcohol markers. The background is acrylic paint. I like working in mixed media. I wasn't sure this combo would work, but I really love it.

Two Illustrations - image 17 - student project

I used warmer colours - including a lot of yellow - on the left where the light is coming in, then moved into colder blues further right. That, and the emptiness to the right, could symbolise hope being lost, since that's the idea of the scene. I tried to mimic that on the character, using a blue grey over her skin tone in the shadows. It could be more dramatic, but it's still the best lighting I've ever done. I added some hatching for the shadows too.

I know having Holly in the centre probably breaks some artistic rules, but I think it's more impactful that way.

Since it's going to be a long time before I write the whole story, some of the design here could change, but right now I love this so much! I've always wanted to do illustration, but never had a clue how, and now I keep looking at this in awe that I actually did something I'm so proud of.

I learned through this that I have two slightly different styles, depending on what medium I'm using, and that I'm happier with my styles than I thought I was. I just needed some guidance to help me make the most of them. It also showed me that I really still need to work on both hands and shortening techniques before I attempt to illustrate a full story.

Thank you so much for this class! I've really enjoyed it and I'm so happy with the results.

Saoirse Moyes

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