Background Illustration
For this illustration, we had to come up with our own world and create a background for our story. It was important to focus on depth, composition and tension.
Personal Goals
For this project, I really wanted to focus on finding my own style again, and experimenting with new styles. I wasn't really happy with how my previous illustration turned out, so I really wanted to draw this one in a style I really love.
Class Assignment
The first thing we did was a quick drawing exercise with the entire class. The teacher showed us pictures of small boxes which we had to turn into a cool scene in just 5 minutes. I first spent 5 minutes on each sketch just to redraw the boxes, so after that I took 5 more minutes for each sketch to turn it into a cool scene.
Story Writing
After the class assignment, it was time to create our own world. I found an old story made by my friend in the first schoolyear, so I took that concept and turned it into my own story.
Moodboard
I started on my moodboard in the first week, but as time went on, I filled it up with over 100 pins. I researched statues, rock-creatures, mountain environments, desert environments, composition inspirations and style references.
Sketches
Then it was time to start sketching. I started out with the idea of a gigantic rock-creature laying somewhere, that turned into just the fingertips sticking out of the ground and then I came up with the idea of a rock-crown. I thought the desert idea would be really cool, because then the area looks really abandoned. But I do really like drawing green nature with trees and grass, so I tried out some of those ideas too.
Feedback
The feedback I received from my teacher is that I should try to work with the rule of thirds, that might make the composition better. I should pick out 1 or 2 sketches and then try out some slightly different compositions. He also gave me the tip to draw lines on the rock-crown, like those ancient English runes, that'd be a nice detail for the crown to pop out more. So I went back to sketching.
After a full week of having no inspiration and not being 100% happy with one of the sketches, my boyfriend gave me the tip to look at Disney environment concept art. I found Frozen II concept art of beautiful autumn trees, and that inspired me to draw this sketch. It was the perfect idea, and I immediately continued working on that sketch.
Digital Sketches
I turned the sketch into a digital sketch, lining the crystal of the rock-crown and parts of the cave up with the rule of thirds guidelines. I also used different shades of grey to show the perspective and light better. After that, I also made a quick color sketch to see what would work. I used the color theory I learned in the 2D lessons and used the Triades colors on the color wheel, meaning I mostly used green, orange and a blue/purple shade.
Drawovers
For the drawovers, I switched out my sketch with a classmate's sketch and gave them feedback. The classmate's sketch was a really quick sketch so I didn't really know what to do with it besides coloring it in to maybe give him some inspiration for the colors. I did think he used the bird's-eye view very well, and you can see he tried using the rule of thirds.
The classmate's feedback for me was to make the cave scarier and add more details like creepy eyes, vines and pointy rocks. He also said I should add more flora and fauna to the bright nature part of the drawing, once again adding more details.
The teacher also gave me feedback on my sketch. He said I should make the background behind the rock-crown more open and show more of the sky instead of making the entire background out of leafs. He also advised me to incorporate the pattern on the crown somewhere into the cave, so it looks more like a real "path towards the crown". So I experimented a bit more with all the feedback I got so far.
I tried out a sunset sky and a normal blue sky. I loved the sunset sky, but not for this drawing. With the bright blue sky, the contrast between the cave and the outside world is bigger which looks better. I also tried adding pointy rocks, but later my teacher made a drawover for me which showed a better way to incorporate pointy rocks into my drawing.
So now that I have my final sketch, I can start working on drawing the lineart.
Finalising the illustration
I started off with the crown, the two front trees and then the entire cave. I decided to try out a cartoon style with really thin but very detailed lineart.
To make the pattern on the rocks look as natural as possible, I started off by drawing weirdly shaped but organic-looking blobs, then drew some wonky lineart over it and erased the blobs. My first attempt looked weird and too much like clouds, it wasn't a good rock-texture. So I tried the technique out again, but this time with smoother lines, which turned out way better than the first attempt.
The feedback from the teacher was that I should make the lines of the leafs a bit extremer so it matches the patterns of the rocks better. I tried out a bunch of other options, but settled with the last one.
He also gave me the tip to leave the sky behind the rock-crown open and then make the other trees in the background grow towards the crown, so the viewers' eyes are more likely to focus on the crown first.
I finished off by drawing some lines in the pointy rocks for more details and after some last finishing touches, I was done with the lineart.
I laid down some base colors, but quickly changed the colors of the trees because the first version was too chaotic and the perspective wasn't very visible. Later I also changed the colors of the cave and added shadows to the entire cave.
I then changed the colors of the lineart and added some more shadows to the bright nature part of the drawing. I gave the crystal in the rock-crown a real glow and added a little bit more shadows to the cave to give it even more depth.
Lastly, I made the sky even more blue and added in simple clouds in the cartoon style I was going for and added in some simple white dots in the grass, representing some small flowers and then the drawing was done.
End Result
Evaluation & Feedback
I am so incredibly happy with how this drawing turned out, especially since I had a hard time coming up with a concept I loved in the first few weeks. I absolutely adore the cartoon style and I think that turned out really well. The lineart of all the objects are black but the smaller lineart details are in color, which makes this all look just a little better. I also think the depth worked out pretty good in this drawing, it's very clear that the front is the dark cave with a lot of shadows, and then you have the nature part which is bright and really colorful. Using the color theory I learned in the 2D classes was very helpful too.
My teacher gave me 2 G's. "Your illustration went through a nice process. You tried out and experimented a lot to get to a good end result. You make good choices so that everything in the illustration falls together nicely. You use your sources well in your work and your color palette gives off a playful and mysterious mood which suits well with your story."
