Final Artwork

I started on the final art work of the four illustrations:-

1 spread which covers a full double page

1 panoramic illustration

1 cameo

1 spot

I started with sketching out my illustrations in pencil, to save paper I managed to get the panorama, cameo and spot on one sheet of watercolour paper.

I started by adding some masking fluid to the tree composition, I wanted to make a barrier so the paper would stay white underneath so I could add the colour for the bubbles with out it getting muddy.

I also added it to the panorama to help get that light effect through the trees.

I started with the granulation wash on the spread illustration, I used galaxy black to add the textured effect.

Unfortunately the granulation didn’t seem to work that well, I didn’t know whether it was because I had diluted the paint a lot with water! So I decided to have another go, this time I used masking fluid to create a barrier with the tree tops too, so I could create a thicker wash with the paint, and try and get the texture and granulation I wanted.

Second try

This seemed to go on a little better, but I would have to wait until the paint dried to see the effect.

I used the old test of the granulation to try out the colour for the tree tops in green and also the bubbles in pink.

I used Daniel Smith Green Apatite Genuine watercolour paint for the tree tops, this paint was also granulating. Then I used Windsor and Newtons Potters Pink for the bubble.

After the granulation wash dried for the second attempt, I rubbed off the masking fluid and painted the bubbles. The masking fluid didn’t cover all the areas, there was some slight flecking, but luckily they seemed to dissolve mostly in the paint after.

I then used the Green Apatite to colour in the tree tops, I added some stars to the sky, some branches in the trees, and some texture on the tree trunks.

I then moved onto the cameo design, I started by painting the veins of the leaf in two different colours.

I then painted the sky through the leaf, I used the Paynes grey colour for this as I wanted it to be slightly darker than the granulation colour galaxy black.

I added some lines to define the veins, and some lighter paint to add fainter veins.

I added some small mushrooms and the fern creature through the leaf into the distance.

Next I started the spot illustration, I used the Paynes grey again for the background, and the other granulation colour forest green for the creature. I thought the pink/red of the mushrooms would give a pop of colour in a dark illustration.

I did have a few problems with the fern creature, the colour turned out a bit too dark, and with the dark background its hard to see him, plus the face wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.

Finally the panorama is the next to paint, I started with a mix of the galaxy black granulation paint and cobalt blue watercolour, to get a lighter colour for the sky here. I wanted it to be a brighter day to show the flecks and spots of dust and magic floating about like pollen.

I used the green apatite again for the grass and the forest green for some of the banks, to keep the colour palette running through the illustrations.

I then took off the masking fluid again, added a wash of colour just over that area with some metallic watercolours, to give shine, then added the specks and spots floating around with gouache paint so it layered better.

Here are the four final illustrations:-