19 Jan 2022, 02:48
@lauraa these are beautiful 
i always love looking at your work.
3 Hansel and Gretel illustrations for CBPro
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Hi! I'm finishing out my three illustrations for the CB Pro class and would like some fresh eyeballs, please. They are in reverse chronological order.
-The first one is pretty much finished. It's the moment when Gretel is deciding to push the witch in the oven.
-The second one is getting there, but I'm second guessing myself on the shadows. It's when the witch invites Hansel and Gretel in and feeds them.
-The third is still in the development stage. It's the children lost in the forest.
Keywords: Gothic, dark, medieval with touches of jewels.
Specific questions:
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Is the approach interesting, appropriate? (I always have this paranoia that my illustrations are too nostalgic and don't push the conceptual envelope enough.)
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Is the action clear?
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Are the three illustrations working as a set?
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Are the trees working as scary people, or would they be better left as trees? Are the proportions and structure right for trees? (I am less experienced with landscapes than with people.)
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Any specific critiques?
Oh, and yes, I am aware that the witch's costume isn't consistent. I just really liked the dark silhouette much better in the second one and so I'm going to have to figure out what to do about the discrepancy.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and lend me your POV!
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@lauraa I really like the design of the witch in the first one, I think based off that, the scale might be off a little in the second or maybe it’s the witches shape that doesn’t add up. I think another perspective would be intriguing too, since I really like the witch I’d like to see more of her. Maybe she is behind the children reaching around to serve them? I like the way the last one is developing. My last idea it that the line work in the background of the first is a little dark. I think your characters would stand out more if there was a way you could fade those out a tiny bit. Overall really well done and I’m looking forward to seeing it finished if you’ll share!
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@asyas_illos Thanks for your reply! Something I didn't think to explain is that the witch has to be a bit mysterious because of the page turn. You do see her face on the previous page, and on the next page you see just...her owl tail, and on the facing page of that one the two birds (her minions) who ate Hansel's crumbs are looking at one another guiltily. The text there is, "The children didn't know she was a witch!"
I will draw through again for her, though, because I didn't properly placed her foot again after I moved her during the drawing process. She's supposed to be pivoting from the stove to the kids. And you're right that she may be a little too small. I did try a couple of different perspectives of the room, but chose this one because it's a sort of establishing shot of the inside of the witch's house.
The lines were something new, and I'm still trying to get the weight right, so I'll take another look at that. In fact, now that I think about it, this may be an old JPEG and I've already redrawn the lines on the witch's clothing so that they are more delicate. But you're right that they shouldn't overwhelm the characters!
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@lauraa these are beautiful
i always love looking at your work. -
I love your work, spot on with colors and story telling. I wouldn't worry about putting suggestions of human features on the trees, your long finger like branches give the illusion of scary human like forms with out the need of specific details. I think the style, proportions and line work in the first and second (woods and eatting) work well together but as much as I LOVE the witch in the oven one, she doesn't seem to fitas well to me because the children are very realistic in proportion to the table etc. but the witch has huge hands compared to the ones holding the bowl in the eatting shot and she looks too large to live in that space you've created. I love the bulging yellow eyes but I'm just wondering if she'd be a better fit if she was just scaled down. Beautiful work, love the challenging angles you took on.
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@larue Ok, obviously I need to take another look at this witch in more than one aspect. Thank you!
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@lauraa I love the size of the witch in the the first one and yes those eyes! It’s very spirited away to me in the way that size relation to other characters doesn’t matter, but her size comparison from the first to the second image just need to be closer. Awesome again!
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I really love the illustrations, and the design (and colours) of the witch. However concerning your second question I feel the action isn’t that clear. I know this is the point Grietje will push the witch in the oven, but your illustration doesn’t really foreshadow that (for me). At the same time due to the perspective the witch looks very big compared to Grietje, so just how will she push her into the oven?
They do work as a set. Since you write that the second one is ‘t finished yet I’d like to add that I miss the bold/intricate lines/linework you used in the first illustration. They give a sense of unease (just like they do in The Scream by Munch) and the second illustration looks very ‘clean’ compared with the first.
Don’t fret about the landscape in the third illustration, the trees really work. I’d suggest a bit more heavy shadow in the borders to accentuate the light behind Hans and Grietje. Though if you want to rework something, maybe change the face on the right tree. It looks a bit like a beaked head, which is maybe a bit too on the nose?
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So I went back and did new sketches based on my originals. Pardon the lack of finish here, because I only allotted myself a certain amount of time to work on it (I need to finish all three illustrations by next week). I decided that the first piece would work better if I made Gretel bigger instead of making the witch smaller (top drawing on left). That way the witch still feels plenty bulky in the frame.
As for the kerchief color, there's a page which I have not yet drawn out in which the witch throws of her disguise before throwing Hansel into the cage. And as my original witch sketch had a cloak, I'm going to say she was wearing the cloak inside the first night to better disguise her owl features. That's why she has a dark hood on in the kitchen dinner scene and not in the stove lighting one. It's a retrofit, but hopefully a believable one?
I think the take-home here is, finish all your dummy sketches before finishing illustrations! But I didn't have time to this summer and so I tried to take some short cuts. DIdn't work!
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Are these more consistent in size now? Never mind color and line for the moment.
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@lauraa it’s definitely a closer match. I think it’s just a little hard to differentiate because of the perspective, that probably wasn’t very helpful. It’s probably just me though, but as the witch is such an interesting character I want to see more of her. But I realize that you most likely have other images with her in them, you’re just covering different angles. Again probably not very helpful, sorry!
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These look great! Love the over all look of these. The first thing that stood out to me here is that the first and second illustration don’t totally seem to fit together. I think this is because the first image is a bit messier with thicker lines and the second is cleaner with thinner lines. I think I like the messier, thinker lines better personally but you could solve this by making either one more like the other. Hope that helps!
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Update on the lost in the forest piece:
The first is my color sketch, which I thought had a lot going for it but it needed more finish. The second is my attempt of far to finish it out without losing what I liked about the sketch. Questions:
Do I need to add back in some of the branches from the sketch?
Is there enough finish now? Too much in some parts?
Are children consistent with previous illustrations, and are their poses effective?
Is there anything amiss here compositionally, etc. that needs to be fixed?@Griffin I agree about the lines not being consistent yet. I'm going to go back and try to reconcile the style more, but want to have all three to a certain level and then go back and work that out, because there's no use getting them just right if something more fundamental is off.
As you can tell, I'm in a little bit of a spontaneity/finesse conundrum at the moment.
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@lauraa I actually like your sketch better. It’s quite lovely. And I like the business off the branches. My question is what is your focal point? I am thinking the humanoid tree. If so you are spot on. If it’s the kids I think they need to be scaled up and lined heavier. I really really really love the style of this. It is a style I would love to emulate. It reminds me of old school childrensillustration. So good!!!
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@chrisaakins Thanks, Chris! I am a little sensitive about my nostalgic style sometimes, because it isn't exactly in vogue right now and I'm not trying to be derivative, but it's what comes out when I draw!
I would say the left tree is the focus. I don't want it to be the kids, because I want them to look "lost." The focus is on the scary surroundings.
I think I'll redo the kids' pose, because I feel like the first one was more dynamic.
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@lauraa well I love your style and I thinks it classic. I think because it’s not popular right now it’s a very nice refreshing look. And I think you add a fresh look to it. I would suggest lightening the kids value.