Isolation WIP - therapeutic process

Coreyartus

@KathrynAdebayo I wonder how it might change if the aerial view was actually spread out over the two pages, with the mother and her children in a floating panel on top of the forest illustration where it is on the left. That kind of close-to-far perspective mechanism is common in comic spreads where the scale of the full spread is important to show over two pages and we get that impact of size, but a floating panel over part of the spread draws our attention to much more specific and intimate moments that are either happening concurrently or moments before or in different locations...

I would think the same thing has been done in children's illustration to hide the gutter in the middle. It could be done with a gentle gradation from left to right as the spread becomes less and less transparent, or a shift in hue or value or contrast... Just a thought.

KathrynAdebayo

@LauraA Hi Laura, great to hear from you. Thank you very much for the feedback. I hope your own situation during these times is safe and that whatever challenges arise lead to greater victories.

@aprilshin Hello! Thank you so much for the amazing advice and for taking the time to sketch out your idea. It has been very helpful to think through what you wrote and try to apply it. I agree that it would be better to see part of the sky, so I gave that a try.

@Coreyartus Hi! Thank you for the very valuable feedback. I really like the idea that you shared about trying to make the spread less boxy and have the two parts of the illustration overlay somehow. I gave it a try, but I’m not sure if I like what came out of this first attempt. Any thoughts?

Here are two new options...

A.

B.

Coreyartus

Oh, wow, I'm really loving both of those, B especially. I especially love the watercolor sketchiness of the vista of the water--it's like the sky and the sea are one thing. To me, that's gorgeous. I would love to see what you do beyond the sketch. The lighting and angle are so much stronger in that composition than your previous one--it really pulls the viewer in. Seeing the scale of the trees helps to make them feel smaller and more isolated. Lovely!!!

Maybe push the panel a bit more into the upper left corner and make it smaller? I dunno... That starts to make it look more "comic-bookey" in some way, though. Maybe the frame of the panel itself with the hard line is what's making it feel that way? It's very defined. Are there other ways to "frame" a "vignette" like that? Just throwin' out ideas here...

If this isn't a mechanism you feel comfy with, then it simply doesn't work for ya--but I gotta say I'm personally really connecting to it so far. I know it's a sketch but using the watercolor so loosely really takes us from the crisp definitions of reality with the mom and her kids to the soft majestic fuzziness all around them that they are connected to. I love that choice. I can't wait to see what you do with it regardless of where that is!

KathrynAdebayo

@Coreyartus Oh man, thanks for your feedback. This is going to be way better than it would have been if I had just gone with the initial idea. I'm glad to get your reaction to the second one... I think it's growing on me too. I like the water/sky oneness as well. Now I wish I had done that color study with layers! It's all one layer and i feel like I'm going to mess up the sky effect if I change it. Thinking of trying to keep the image on the right softer and looser like you mentioned...

Does anyone have other ideas about how to overlay the left image in a graceful way? I agree that the line around the edge is questionable.

Thanks again for the help!

chrisaakins

@KathrynAdebayo THis is really looking great! I love what you did with the watercolor and the palette.

KathrynAdebayo

@chrisaakins Thanks, Chris! Any advice?

I've been watching your thread and like the piece you're doing this month! It looks great, and flipping the image really highlighted your main character and the nice lighting you have in the scene.

Miriam

I like both A & B. I think the design of having the image overlay the background image is working.

Painting the two images with the same style/medium/techniques will help tie them together & reinforce the concept.

@Coreyartus mentioned vignette. I think the straight lines of the rectangle would set off the image without the dark line around it--especially since you've done a good job framing within the illustration with the dark branches and foliage. The light "shadow" around the rectangle helps too--maybe just add more of the white around the sides? (But I like how it's varied & fuzzy/blended, so I wouldn't make it solid.)

chrisaakins

@KathrynAdebayo I like the lake better than the mountain but both are lovely. I really love your line work in the characters and they look finished. I think you biggest challenge will be to render the large spread in a way that complements your small picture. I would simplify your lines in the forest and/or use a lighter shade rather than full black for linework. It creates the illusion of space. Keep your detail for the figures rather than the shrubbery because they are getting lost.

TessaW

This is such a lovely concept. I got goose bumps! Can't wait to see it progress.

KathrynAdebayo

@Miriam Hi Miriam, thanks so much for your advice. I took to heart what you said about making the two parts of the illustration seem cohesive, and I hope it’s working well, but please feel free to let me know what you think.

KathrynAdebayo

@chrisaakins Wow, thanks so much for your valuable advice. I tried to make the characters on the right stand out and more detailed, but the line work in the trees did end up getting really busy... hmm... Do you think it's too distracting? Thanks so much for the advice about making the larger picture compliment the smaller one. Now that I've worked on the zoomed out image for a while, I feel like I might need to go back into the smaller one and tighten things up a bit. Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

KathrynAdebayo

@TessaW

KathrynAdebayo

Here’s where it stands now...

@KathrynAdebayo It's really beautiful

KathrynAdebayo

Thanks to the good advice given here, I thinned some of the line work on the image on the left and added flames to the fire.

Any advice at this point?

KathrynAdebayo

Well, after a few days of letting this sit and making some minor changes... maybe it’s done? Any other feedback or suggestions that could improve the overall feel? Thanks for the help so far guys.

miranda-hoover

@KathrynAdebayo Wow! That looks beautiful! I love your use of colors! Also, I think the shooting star placed under "Never" has a nice effect.

smoke

@KathrynAdebayo on the left illustration I should put a fire on that campfire, the rest looks great on that one. And the one on the other side I should make the overall illustration a bit darker but the vocal point. Especially between the trees, thinking where the moonlight would come from so there could be some castingshadows. But
that's my thought on it. Hope you know what I meant about that. Overall, great idea, love the layout and your personal style.

smoke

@KathrynAdebayo this looks amazing, please forget my previous comment.