Each week of the month of February, I'll be doing an illustration based of the given word or phrase. Learn more about Month of Love here. You can also check out my pieces from the last challenge Month of Fear.
This weeks phrase: Lost in translation. The Language of Love has many dialects. Sometimes we’re fluent and other times… it’s all Greek.
LeeLoo from the awesome film The Fifth Element. Original chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. This piece illustrates the first moment she sees the futuristic city of New York. See my time-lapse video below, which shows my initial process when putting down a free form drawing.
Challenges for this illustration:
* Trying to depict Milla Jovovich's character, while still retaining my style. This was very tricky. I ended up re-watching the movie and taking a lot of screenshots. I couldn't get a straight up great reference photo. This was a good personal challenge for me. I also researched all of Milla's photo-shoots during 1995. She is so purdy. I felt the key would be to nail her mouth since it is her most distinct feature. Also, Leeloo often had an opened mouth expression.
Few of my quick thumbnails. The project went fast since it took me a few days to decided on a concept for this week's challenge.
• This scene illustrates her first moment seeing futuristic New York and the cops have her in a spotlight. The face is practically fully lit, which can flatten everything. I really had to control my values, control my line work, and use what shadows I had to balance everything. Usually, my pastel strokes are smooth and organic and I'll love to render out areas like the hair. But considering the chaos and anxiety of the scene and the high key values, I wanted more energy to compensate that. So, I used hard strokes within the face and kept the hair mostly gestural.
• I originally wanted to have her hands up covered in soot, like in the movie. However, I nixed it because I felt the piece was too busy with more information. I also tilted the composition to make it more dynamic.
Project Description: It took me a few days thinking on this week's phrase. It was very hard not to just think of the literal movie, Lost in Translation. Luckily one morning Leeloo popped into my head! I find my best inspiration when I'm initially waking up in the morning and cruising through artwork on IG. Leeloo is a supreme being that is awoken 5,000 years later to a future with flying cars and space travel. She was created as a weapon to save the human race from a “great evil” that is literally a dark planet hurtling towards Earth to destroy everything. I felt Leeloo’s journey was a good fit for this week’s challenge. From the beginning of her waking, she dealt with controversy. And when she looked up the word “war,” she became even warier of humans and their overwhelming will to destroy each other. It took good ol’ Bruce Willis (playing Corbin Dallas) to explain that there are many things worth saving, like love. He then kisses her and she’s a happy weapon again and destroys the “great evil” seconds away from its impact with Earth. Fin.
Side Notes: At the end of the film, Leeloo really gives Corbin quite an ultimatum. Say you love me or Earth dies, lol. All kidding aside, this is a beautifully entertaining movie. One of my favs.
