Hubert the Snail - WIP

[demotlj]

Just sharing. This is the next illustration in my story prompt project for my niece. The prompt on this one (which will go somewhere on this picture or on a frame around it) is, “When Hubert lay down to take a nap, he didn’t realize that snails can sleep for several years.” (It will be easier to see the snail when I put in values, I hope.)

I’m going to try to do this in the style of Jill Barklem’s “Brambly Hedge” books so this is just the line which I’ll be painting it in light washes of watercolor. At least, that’s the plan!

[demotlj]

Here is my watercolor version. As always, I’m not loving it but at this point will have to take it into Procreate to work on it more. One of the primary problems I see is that the rock on which the snail is resting his head just looks like a blob. What else do you see that I should work on?

[Chip Valecek]

@demotlj it might be hard now to change, but that one leaf that is resting on the back of the snail head makes it hard to read the snail shell behind him. It almost breaks him into two pieces.

[demotlj]

@Chip-Valecek I agree. That’s been bothering me too so I’ll have to see what I can do with it in Procreate.

[demotlj]

Real quick fix removing leaf on snail. Is this better?

[Debra Garcia]

@demotlj much much better

[Chip Valecek]

@demotlj yes, much better. What if you moved his eyes up a little so he is looking toward the spiders or the leaves in front of him. Just a suggestion.

[demotlj]

@Chip-Valecek The snail is supposed to be sleeping which is why I dropped his eye stalks over the blob that is supposed to be a rock. The whole thing doesn’t read as well as I hope. A friend if mine also pointed out that a snail shell is smooth and that the striations that I made as indentations are really just color lines so I’ve got to fix that too. Some day I’ll manage to do a watercolor all the way to the end without having to fix it in Procreate but clearly not yet.

[demotlj]

I started re-doing the snail and now I’m trying to decide how much of the original watercolor to keep and how much to paint over in order to make the style match up better.

[kylebeaudette]

The spider designs jump out at me, otherwise I like the snail and the rest quite a bit!
Spiders don't have three segments on their bodies, they have two.

[demotlj]

@kylebeaudette You're right. I had started out with only two parts and then was trying to make the spiders look less frightening by enlarging the eyes and inadvertently created a head. I'm embarrassed to have made that mistake. I'll add that to my list of things to fix.

This also shows me the importance of continuing to look at my reference throughout the entire process. Both the spiders and the snail shell started out more anatomically correct in my original sketches and then evolved away from that as I did subsequent drawings. My visual memory is terrible Thanks for catching it.

[demotlj]

Changed the spiders though now that I look at them again, they look like ticks. I might change the color to make them look more spidery.

[demotlj]

Here’s my final painting. Not perfect but ready to move on. Thanks for everyone’s help.

[Jonas Zavacky]

@demotlj reminds me the good old children books I used to read as a kid ! Really goodjob

[djly]

I love the improvements you made from the first to the last post. The snail reads much better and the spiders are also really nicely executed.

[demotlj]

@djly Thanks. This forum is always so helpful in catching those things that aren't working.