Scene from a story

It’s incredible how quickly I lose interest in my own illustrations. I go through phases of having a good flow going and feeling really inspired. Other times I finish an illustration and don’t even like it or I look back at my work a few weeks later and I can see mistakes or I look at it and think I could have don’t this bit better or that better.

I have been trying to do a series of illustrations in a children’s book style for a story I have in my head. When I sketched this character I was trying to go for a very cute, naive style. This is not my natural drawing style. My mind always wants to try and make objects or people look realistic. But I am trying to stray away from that and draw in a more loose childlike style.

For this illustration I was trying to mimic the style of the first character. I suppose I am inspired by my own childhood as I remember always loving wandering through the woods. I love old folklore and tales of trolls and fairies.

 

This is the first version. For this I used fine liners, watercolours and pencils. I’m not so keen on the colour scheme in this one, it just doesn’t look right. I like the way the grass turned out though. In the second version I decided to change the trees and add a bit more detail, which I think looks much better. But I’m glad I decided to have another go at it. I feel like the second version turned out better although I’m still not 100% happy with it.

At the moment my plan is to keep working on my water colour skills and sketch sketch sketch!