Guess what?!?! My Christmas illustration for 2016 is done!! :-D It actually turned out to be quite the challenge, but I'll explain that below. First, the finished work.
I have to say, I'm quite pleased with it! ^_^ Which is good because this is the second version. Here's the story. I wanted to do a Christmas illustration with Yeti, like last year, and after considering a few, rather complicated ideas, I opted for a simple image of him reading by a snowy window. I brainstormed a few ideas, (the final version was actually the first idea I had), and decided to try drawing him sitting on a window seat with a blanket, books, ect.
After several attempts, I came up with a thumbnail I liked.
It took 3-4 sketches (plus practice drawing Yeti) to get a drawing I liked. I inked it successfully and moved on to the watercolor stage. Unfortunately, the watercolor stage didn't go well. Here's were I ended up.
It's not the worst thing ever, but I wasn't happy with it. It didn't draw me in like last year's illustration had; the colors lacked warmth and richness. I knew I would have to start over, which is always discouraging. :-(
After some color analysis and water color thumbnails, I found a direction that would lend to more vibrant colors. It also meant changing the composition back to my original idea.
I did a new sketch, which actually only took one attempt (yay!!) and managed not to ruin it in the inking stage. I did several pallet tests and watercolor practice thumbnails, just to make sure I had really thought out my color choices this time.
And then, with much prayer and trepidation, I started the watercolor stage again. And this time, it turned out much better. ^_^
There are still a few things about this version I might do differently if I could. Also, I think I'll use a different paper next time because this stuff wrinkled up something terrible! But all in all, I'm very happy I took the plunge and restarted. The illustration feels warm and inviting, plus Yeti ended up looking cuter and more naturally posed!
If you've made it this, thanks for sticking around! And thank you to everyone for your support this year! I feel like I wasn't as art focused as I would like to have been (I'm blaming the new house...), but I really appreciated everyone's encouragement, even when all I had to show for myself were scrappy sketchbook drawings! :-/
This will be my last post till January! I hope you all have a lovely Holiday season and I'll be back in 2017! ^_^
onward and upward,
Bethany
