This past summer was HOT here in the north of England, something we are not used to dealing with! I started drawing the concept for this during an insane heat wave where my arm would constantly stick to my tablet screen while I was drawing. In a room at my boyfriends flat where his house mate had recently moved out of was the best place for me to be, looking into the cramped back streets of Heaton as the roofs of houses waved around in the hot air. The matress was bare and almost cool compared to the hot, wet air around the rest of the flat. I would take breaks every 30 minutes or so to lay down and cool down with the windows open. 

 

When I was drawing this design I was using the empty room around me as a reference, adding in those blinds and curtains to waft a breeze around the room made me feel slightly colder for a few blissful moments. As I concepted the colour for the room I wanted to show the hot rays of sun coming in but when away from the windows use cooler tones to help the room feel less painfully hot (as I was experiencing). 

 

My favourite thing to draw in this room was the Aloe Vera plant on the window sill, which I overlayed with harsh sun light and the screen curtains, taking away some of the detail from it, but behind all that saturated heat is a very cute freckled plant. Something else in the room that I love is the art the character has on her wall as it displays my life motto, “you can’t change the past, but you can decide your future”. Something that has helped me to stop worrying too much about things I have done or experienced in my life than effect me through guilt or anger, and instead use those experiences to learn and grow as a person. Change myself for the better. 

An ongoing battle. 

 

If you want to know more about this piece and the artistic HORROR story that comes with it, please read more about the making of this on my blog. [link]