Together we collaborated on this project, and in this workshop we’ll take you through our steps, from the initial ideas to the final edits. In this guide, you’ll discover how we created a fantasy illustration featuring an enchanted owl tree.
This project was inspired by our childhood artworks: we used to draw owls with matching presents on a large, magical tree. We recently found one of these older drawings and decided it’d be a nice idea to tackle this concept again. The drawing was supposed to be very whimsical, so lighting played an important role. We will demonstrate which blend modes we use to create the enchanting lighting effects, and explain how we created unique character designs for the owls and their matching presents.
1 The idea and moodboard
For a children’s book project we needed to create a populated forest scene. Browsing through our legacy sketch collections, recurring subjects were owls guarding their individual presents. We collaborated to expand these characters and developed them to bring the forest scene to life. After we have formed a general idea, we like to put together a moodboard. In this case, we saved inspirational images of forest concept artworks, photography and owl designs in a Pinterest board.
2 Thumbnail sketches
Based on those images, we created a series of small and quick drawings. We picked our favourite ones and used them as a guide to create a compositional sketch.
3 Colour key – colour scheme and lighting
Denne historien er fra July 2022-utgaven av ImagineFX.
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Denne historien er fra July 2022-utgaven av ImagineFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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.
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