"The Pretty Visitor"
This illustration I initially started as "Something to kill the time with" while I used to commute to work between Hillerød & Copenhagen. For a while I left it unfinished, but now finally I found some time to put the last stroke.
To begin with "The Pretty Visitor" was really just a faceless idea. I set out to draw without any defined image of what should the illustration eventually depict. However, I had a clear goal to use a tight colour card sourced from another illustration I found online. Only with time, I started to associate this piece with travelling and thus came the name. The inspirational illustration that catalysed my work was made by Karan Sigh, who is a really cool Australian artist currently based in Amsterdam. So, I guess, Thank You Karan!
By adding a combo of fun & cartoonish graphic elements, I think, I managed to add some extra youthful playfulness and carelessness to the otherwise realistic drawing style and shadowing. In the end I felt a certain "DragonBall Z" theme in it and that is just so "me".
I made this illustration in Adobe Sketch App, on an iPad Pro using an Apple pencil. This piece was drawn almost entirely using one single brush - the Graphite Pencil. What is really amazing is that the brush feels just like the traditional colourful pencil. I also equally enjoyed the fact that the brush lets me really get into the
"hair-thin" details.
Eventually, I added a time lapse video just to show the process, and to share that many times it is not necessary to have particular ideas in order to start. Sometimes, I simply like to figure out the subject along the way. For me, the purpose of such loose work is often of exploratory nature. I tend to try new methods, techniques or tools by allowing myself to draw "whatever that feels right". In the end adding some small constrains, like a tight colour card, or rule to only use one brush, already sets a tone.
Thank you!
