About a week ago, I doodled the above picture not in my usual sketchbook, but on a big sketch pad I was using to plan out some pictures for a book project I'm currently working on.
I'm not sure why I drew a picture of a rabbit running through a jungle/forest with a giant crystal, but sometimes I think you just have to go with what you brain tells you to do!
Usually, in my little sketchbook, and my rough images for work, I make them very tidy and tight, but working on a bigger pad made my pencil work looser and I was desperate to colour it in.
Usually, my work is a mixture of traditional artwork (mainly the linework) and digital colour and texture. However, recently I've found that I'm not able to get the feeling I want using the computer.
No matter how much computer trickery I use, the image still doesn't quite do what I want. I've also found the amount of time I am staring at a screen has become quite uncomfortable, so I'm trying to work away from the computer as much as possible to give my eyes a rest and look at something other than a flickering screen.
This image was an experiment ahead of my next two picture books to see if I could manage a large, fairly complicated scene with put having a nervous breakdown! And I LOVED it. I really liked how not having an undo function meant I had to think about more before tackling bits of the image, and I also really enjoyed how relaxed it made me just quietly colouring bits and working the image up in stages.
I don't usually show my process because to be honest with you, even after 7 years of being an illustrator, I still have very little idea of what I'm doing and most of it is trial and error, but I did think you might like to see how I put this image together.
ART GEEK BIT: It's pen, pencil crayon, watercolour, chalk pastel and gouache on medium texture, heavyish weight A3 paper.
And the final finished image...
