This piece was created for Graphite Magazine's July 2018 issue. I did a tutorial on how to use chalk pastels. It was an interesting process scanning my piece in stages and thinking about what is most important to say. I've done plenty of live demos, but it's different when you have to break it down on paper. Plus, my technique involved reworking my subject several times over. I believe that the history left or the "ghost image" helps me define my best version of the illustration.
I wanted to use this piece as a chance to explore with my Kickstarter. I initially wanted a "darker" color palette similiar to what I want for my Kickstarter, but decided to go more whymiscal. And I wanted to explore what I could do with hair underwater. There is going to be A LOT of underwater hair action for the KS illustrated book and I don't want to do any typical shapes. Nope, I want to work with movement and really hone in on that light as a feather look. I feel I did accomplish that with this tutorial piece. I'm very happy! I even did some studies, which I'll show here as a little sneak peek for the tutorial. Some small gouache studies.
My next experiment will be a piece playing around with the color and tone. I think something more in the greenish-blue hue. I want it to feel "darker." I also need to figure out what our little mermaid is going to look like. I imagine white, nearly transparent skin and silver hair. I wonder if I should do a sculpt to keep me on track throughout the story illustrations? I'm hoping I can play this into a Month of Love piece too. I am taking baby steps. This project is dear to my heart and I want to make sure everything is done well and with a purpose.
To learn more about my Kickstarter and read more posts about it, click here.
Here is a small sample of inspirational imagery I've been collecting.
Work by Forest Rogers, Mira Nedyalkova, and Rebecca Guay.
