@Lee-White I have the format vertical because of the extreme view angle and the "outer space" factor. Design wise I thought that would enhance those things. I will do more thumbnails this evening and play around with that. This is the second time I've tried to do a narrative flow. The first time I made a picture book dummy and it was way easier because I had so many pages to tell the story. Trying to tell a story that spans a lifetime plus a future event in 3 panels is DIFFICULT. lol. My thumbnails were getting way too busy (i thought) so I went the other extreme, too simple.
I picked a tough subject, but a good subject. If I can pull this off, I will be very happy.
Thank you for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated.
Thank you Judy, that's awesome of you to say! No, it's not for a story. I was trying to fall asleep one night and the image just popped into my head. That doesn't happen very often, but I went for it and this was the result. I might toss around some story ideas from this- but I woudn't even know where to start.
@RobinCampbellArt I think it looks wonderful the changes to the mammoth make it look much more proportional ️ I wouldn’t say no one will miss the trees on the cliff side they were beautiful and you had done a great job on them
Hey Gang! Lightbox expo is this weekend and I'm putting the last touches on my portfolio. I fly out in the morning. Wanted to share a couple new pieces I've made and a revised piece.
This had a couple things touched up digitally, I think it brings a little more life to it.
One of the things I needed to work on was some sequential pieces, this one goes with the Crow illustration thats 1. This takes place earlier in the story before they have a run in with the crow. For the image order I want this to follow the crow one, being the new 2.
I had so much fun with this sheep illustration, it had to go in the portfolio. I feel like it's one of my stronger pieces, so I want it in the middle, I'm going to have it follow the taco truck watercolor piece.
This last one is part of the crow illustration series, this would be once they arrive to meet the crow. I'm having a hard time with this one. There's things I like about it, but there's something I can't quite place.
Wanted to see what people thought and if it should go in the portfolio. I'm not sure where I would place it in the order, maybe after the other two in this series? This was laid out with the intent of being a spread. But what do you think?
Please let me know if you think the order of these should be different. If you want to see how they feel in order, I have them up on my site. https://www.normanmoranaillustration.com
Also!! If anyone else is going to be at Lightbox please hit me up, it would be awesome to meet someone from the forum! During the expo I'm more likely to see a message on instagram, and a link to that is in my signature.
some progress on this one, tried to improve on the component balance and started pushing some more of the traditional looking textures my work is missing for children's publishing. Loads to do on that still!
@Jorge-Valentin Thank you very much! I've got another illustration for these kids planned out too
@MichaelaH hahah yeah you're probably right, but I guess I think of one as my illustration instagram and one as my ...animator style..ish...instagram. I dunno. Maybe someday I'll be able to have just one instagram and not fret over it >u> thanks for the follow
Those have an awesome, peaceful atmosphere! So simple yet sooo adorable!
I always struggle with making something both simple and apipealing, but you've nailed that.
I'll be visiting this thread, keep on working!
I think your inking and cell shading is really great! The gold hue really pops against the dark background, and your line weight variations really communicate an organic quality to the whole thing!
I wonder if maybe the the circle and rays radiating from it in the upper right don't somehow contradict the direction of your lighting coming from the left. I say that simply because the subtle (maybe unintended?) implication is that it's a moon or something that is radiating rays that might be interpreted as moonbeams, maybe... If that's the case, I'd urge you to deepen the shadows and bump the highlights a bit more because it looks like, to my eye, that he's been caught in a different cast light source coming from the left and staring down whoever is carrying it. I wonder if you push that source of light to be more evident, the less powerful backlight from the apparent moon might help it seem less contradictory. Does that make sense?
The great jungle leaves behind him really help set an atmosphere of being in the dark because they seem so shadow and windswept. It's a lovely impression! Well done!
@Tom-Shannon Thank you! I ended up sending them all- since it's to another artist- and we hadn't established a very clear brief- but yeah I think in general sending less would be more appropriate.
I ended up clarifying the river ghost and replaced the ghost/pet in the library with a different concept all together. He seemed to be happy with them and narrowed down a couple favorites. Yay!
@Nyrryl-Cadiz just about a little girl who dreams of riding ponies and has one of those horsie broomstick toys.........I think her imagination is running wild maybe sort of like Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes lol. I just made it up so not sure lol!
Been super busy with my new book, but thought I would jump back in and try and complete this painting by the end of the day. I played around a lot with the color choices, and found it really hard to mix a light scene transitioning into a dark scene. I also decided against having the clovers lit up on the ground and instead changed the little creatures in the forest to have them on their head as a trap.
Still a bit to go, but i'm happy with where the foundation of the painting is.
Ok, so this is moving along a bit more slowly than planned. Did some small adjustments to the rough sketches (removed the cat, thanks for the tip:)) Colour studies, and then a cleaned up sketch for the umbrella one. Hopefully I will have time to finish it tomorrow in time for the competition!
