Little traveler - personal piece, need feedback :-)

xin li

@Mara-Price thank you
@burvantill wow. a board book? That really got me to think. I will give a try. It is always good to have a product in mind I guess.
My goal so far was to make a serie of images with the same characters :-). It is for my portfolio - I kind of need some serie images.

idid

@xin-li said in Little traveler - personal piece, need feedback :

Sketch 2: the little traveler stands on top of the snail to smell the spring flower

I like the 2nd one most, the first one is a bit "normal". While I don't quite get what's going on in sketch #3. Could you make it in more details?

xin li

@idid thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I guess I need to keep simplifying the #1. The comp is too complicated, which made it hard to read the main story.
#3 is very rough. I will do another pass as soon as I got some time to sit down to draw.

marine

Such a fun pair these two! This is going to be a great series! @xin-li
I actually like the first one. I can imagine a story were they might be a little too adventurous, almost at the point of falling down as the snail tries to reach out to a lower flower and the child looking at his/her own thing of interest. Then maybe the comp can be less static with the mushroom bending a lot?

lmrush

I love number three, number two is great I would love to see it zoomed in

xin li

@marine interesting. I will keep in mind to make no.1 comp more dynamic when I do the next iteration.
@lmrush thank you. Do you think no.2 needs to be cropped in? hmmm. that made me think. But... I really want to show the snail character as well somehow. I will play around. I like no.3 as well, but I was not sure if the concept is working glad to hear that you like it. I will work out more details in the next iteration.

LauraA

At first I liked 2 the best because of the flower and stem curving down. But now that I look at it, I really like 3, because something about that snail's antennae and the dress up theme is really fanciful. Maybe it just needs a bit of refinement in the values? Or maybe it could be "zoomed in" just a tad?

I actually like all 3 of these, but agree that 1 is more "expected," while 2 and 3 are very dynamic.

Look forward to seeing how this goes! Hang in there! Your little one is important and these are rough times for everyone. If we could ignore that is going on, we wouldn't be human. And illustrators need to be very human!

lmrush

@xin-li Oh I meant from the first sketch, I now see you had zoomed in already in a later post

theprairiefox

@xin-li I love where you are going with these.

I think that the 3 thumbnails are much more powerful and energetic than the one in your original post. I think that is because you focusing on the characters doing something (other than just walking across the scene.)

Comments on each sketch

1: I think it might be more interesting if the snail was eating a strawberry too? Something to make it more active as a second read.

2: This one provides the best silhouettes by far. If you are going for a spot image I love this one for that.

This one is the hardest to read as a thumb because it is the most complicated, in a book I think it would work later after the reader is familiar with the characters but as a stand-alone, I think you might struggle to convey what is going on. I really like the overall design and using the grasses to focus the viewer back into the center.

Just some thoughts, keep it up. I know it is hard right now. I am struggling to make any meaningful progress as well.

Kim Hunter

It would deepen the bond and show us another side of the traveler if we saw her caring for her snail, perhaps the way one would care for a horse she loved. Grooming, feeding, scratching that itchy spot behind the tentacle. FYI - when you scratch that "itchy spot" on a a horse, it extends its neck, tilts its head and its upper lip will twist and elongate. That's horse heaven.

xin li

@LauraA thank you so much for the feedback. I think I will focus on proceed with no.2 and 3 at this moment, and work on the idea no.1 a bit more later

@lmrush Thanks. I see what you mean now.

@theprairiefox really good point with silhouettes. I will keep in mind when I am working on no.1 and no.3. I agree no.2 seems to have the most clear silhouettes.

@Kim-Hunter I really love that you see the snail as her hourse. It was exactly what I had in mind. I wanted to draw one image where they curl up and sleeping togehter. But U like your idea of grooming, feeding and scratching. I will play with this idea.

Rachel Horne

I really like them all to be honest and I see you've already decided to go with two and three. Can't wait to see the finished results. I understand what you mean, I feel like I'm in a bit of a creative slump but it seems that despite the difficult times, you're still making lovely art.

xin li

@Rachel-Horne thank you so much. I try to keep going with art as much as I can to maintain some kind of normal life. Of course, it is impossile to work fulltime on art right now, as I also spend lots of family time which is really nice (if it was not for this crazy surreal time).

I love your recent instagram updates. They are bueatiful :-).
Stay safe and keep going

Rachel Horne

@xin-li thank you I've been loving your instagram pencil sketches. It's important to get some art in, even if it's just a small amount. It's definitely a strange time and even though it's great to spend some time with family, it's a little bittersweet too but art will see us through, I'm sure. xx

MelissaJacie

@xin-li Look forward to seeing where you take this idea! Love the sweetness in it. Please do keep us updated on your progress!

xin li

@MelissaJacie I can not decide which media to use.
I made a quick ink wash test on my sketch book. I like the texture and the feel of the environment, but I never know what to do with the character when painting with inkwash. If I go with ink, I have to figure out how to paint the main characters somehow

eriberart

I love the energy that your ink washes have! You should check out Becky Cameron's work. She combines ink, watercolour, pencil texture and photoshop I think. I've always loved how she does her characters. She has more great stuff on her instagram

xin li

@eriberart I love becky Cameron's work. thanks for the tip.

burvantill

@xin-li i think that you could get away with really simplifying the shape of the characters. I just did a search and found Jon Klassen on Pinterest. I found a couple of ink wash illustrations that were simple but still conveyed the story.
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xin li

@burvantill yeah. Jon Klassen and Benji davis are good reference. I think I need to work a lot with getting good silhouttes. I love Becky Cameron's work. But I do not have a very graceful lines. My art look better without visible line work currently. I also like to work without much lines around the main characters at this moment. So I will be working more with shapes, silhouttes, and patterns. This came out this afternoon. I wonder if I can draw the little traveller in this style. ----