Making an illustration
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Hi guys,
I'm working on an illustration to a lullaby. It's a personal project, which I was hoping to submit for February's art contest here, but I got soooo suck with it.
I would greatly appreciate if you guys could give me some constructive feedback!The song is about the baby as much as it is about the animals, so was trying to place the animals in a way that they would be visible but not distracting. I went from line work, to values and to colours. It's done digitally, but I will paint traditionally. So don't mind the poor digital painting - it's a preparatory step.
Does the composition work? If not, what would you suggest to improve it? Do the colours work? What do you think would make it a better illustration?
Thank you very much in advance!
Kate
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What feeling are you trying to convey in your illustration? I don't know the lullaby, but it seems to me if the song is about the baby and animals, this might work better if we zoomed in to the cradle? There's a lot of environment and the cradle (I assume the focal point) takes up a fairly small part of the image. We probably only need a hint of kitchen background to know where the scene takes place.
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@carriecopadraws
Hi,
Thank you for your comment!
The song is about the animals who shouldn't wonder round the house and make noise and mischief while the baby is falling asleep. It's a Ukrainian song that me and my toddler have modified a bit, and the interior is important for understanding what it is. I was trying to create a calm and warm feeling with the illustrations, hence the warm but not very bright colours. I was going for a cozy scene around the clay oven because it's a very traditional, very dear to our culture thing - it used to be the heart of a house. -
@Kateryna-Shebanits The colors and poses are very cozy, but I don't get the sense of noise and mischief? Are the animals behaving in this scene?
Have you tried any other thumbnails of this idea? I don't get the sense of a foreground or background. I feel the scene might work better from another angle. Here's an example of a quite moment in a kitchen:
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@carriecopadraws yes, they are behaving
Thanks, I'll think about the different planes! I tried some other angles when I was sketching it, but this one seemed the best at that moment and now I'm not happy with it... Will keep working. -
@Kateryna-Shebanits I made a Draw 25 Things illustration last year and had the same trouble! I kept trying to work with an old composition and getting really frustrated. I went back and drew some new thumbnails for different layouts and found something that worked better! Knowing what you know now about what you want your illustration to show, it can help to go back and play with new ideas.
Sample of my old comp, then my new one:
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@carriecopadraws, thanks a lot! And what a cool illustration!