This piece, The Goblin Market, is a recent reworking of a piece that I made several years ago, when I was still developing my style with watercolour. It’s inspired by the poem of the same title by the 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti.
Because it’s a Victorian fairy tale, I wanted to make sure my character looked period-appropriate, but that the art itself evoked a nostalgic whimsical setting. I normally start my pieces with rough sketches, but I knew what I wanted to do for this one. I also had the benefit of having my older drawing to reference. So I began the figure sketch and arranged the goblins around her in a way that would encourage the viewer’s eye to move around the piece.
Once the drawing was finished, I began the ink drawing on a clean sheet of watercolour paper, and added a light watercolour wash over the page to add texture. Then I scanned it and added colour digitally in Photoshop. This stage is where I select elements of the piece and start the values of the piece in black and white, and then select areas to colour individually.
How I create…
A FIGURE IN A FOREST
Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world
