background illustration
----- the project -----
for this project I had to write a short story of which I then had to make a background illustration for, where you can see the world of the short story.
----- the short story -----
a group of adventurers are stranded on an island which they cannot escape for some reason. at first glance everything seems all right with the island and all who inhabit it, but the deeper you enter the woods, the darker and more twisted everything gets. but there is one main city on this island, the harbour city of the island, where everything still is all well and great. here you can find big markets and lots of sea-men selling and buying things left and right.
----- research -----
once I knew what I wanted to make I collected some reference images in a mood board.
I also did a quick study on how to build a background with different layers.
----- the process -----
I started by making a few sketches that portrayed the direction I wanted to go in.
these however did not yet give the feeling and image I wanted to portray. with the help of my teacher I eventually managed to draw a sketch I did like.
to make sure the perspective of everything was reasonably alright I quickly made a block-out of my scene in 3D which I then could use as base for the final drawing.
the next step was to work the sketch out. I did struggle a bit with the style I wanted to go for, because I started with a certain style, but I knew that if I continued I wouldn't have it finished in time, plus I just did not like it for the type of illustration I wanted to make. eventually I went with a style that is a bit of a mix between the style I started in and the style of the illustration I did my layer practice with.
there was a small exercise that I had to do at some point as well, which was a draw-over. me and a fellow student exchanged our current works and had to draw over them to add or change certain things that would help make the drawing better.
the first one is the draw-over I did for my fellow student, and the second one is the draw-over he did for my illustration.
(don't mind the quality, I had some technical problems that day)
----- the end result -----
and this is the final illustration.
