Illustration

Jack Frost

Latest portrait illustration of Jack Frost. Most of my portraits are quite like Ella. This time I wanted to play with organized chaos with a low key lighting. I'm planning a very colorful Golden Compass illustration that's going to involves the Northern Lights, so this helped me workout some decisions. These portraits are about fun and working out problems before a big color piece.

I wanted Jack Frost to be an androgynous character. I needed to balance the smoothness of his face with the crisp lines of his hair and surroundings. Also wanted the flow of the wind to show with my stroke choices in the background. There are things that I do and don't like with this one, but over all I'm happy with it.

Below is a close up. I even added ice on his eyelashes after watching Narnia for inspiration :P

Coraline Spot

"Coraline wondered if the other mother wasn't interested in trees, or if she just hadn't
bothered with this bit properly because nobody was expected to come out this far.
  
  She kept walking.
  
  And then the mist began.
  
   It was not damp, like a normal fog or mist. It was not cold and it was not warm. It felt to Coraline like she was walking into nothing. "
                        - from Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

This particular spot is when Coraline is walking through the woods in the other mother's created world. I always loved the imagery of this passage and was inspired to do my own spot illustration for it. Below are close-up and further down is some of process my work.

 

I knew I wanted an illustration of Coraline walking through a forest that rapidly had trees started turning into "an idea of a tree." I usually already make my backgrounds suggestive and loose, so it was a fun challenge working with my style and still having my illustration read as a forest turning into nothingness rather than an illustration that isn't finished.

My initial sketches and media test:

Coraline Spots

"Coraline closed the old wooden door, turned out the light, and went to bed. She dreamed of black shapes that slid from place to place, avoiding the light, until they were all gathered together under the moon. Little black shapes with little red eyes and sharp yellow teeth. They started to sing,

We are small but we are many

We are many we are small

We were here before you rose

We will be here when you fall.

Their voices were high and whispering and slightly whiney. They made Coraline feel uncomfortable..."

 

Then there is my favorite character Cat.

"...Coraline also explored for animals. She found a hedgehog, and a snake-skin (but no snake), and a rock that looked just like a frog, and a toad that looked just like a rock.

There was also a haughty black cat, who would sit on walls and tree stumps, and watch her; but would slip away if ever she went over to try to play with it.
"


One of my favorite sayings from the Cat:

“We...we could be friends.'

We COULD be rare specimens of an exotic breed of dancing African elephants, but we're not. At least, I'M not.”

AshlyLovett cat.jpg

Coraline and the Other Mother

She looked a little like Coraline's mother. Only...

Only her skin was white as paper.

Only she was taller and thinner.

Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.
-
From the novel Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

 

AshlyLovett - Coraline.jpg

I love this book. The visuals are amazing and honestly its super freaky. I could have made the "other mother" much much scarier, but in the end it is a children's book. There are a lot of subtle metaphors describing her like a spider and Coraline as her prey. That is something I'd like to explore further in future Coraline illustrations.