This is my illustration assignment for a children's book. My quote, 'A big octopus chased me in the ocean', gave me a more dark, ominous image in my head where a mermaid is at the very depths of the ocean. I received some great feedback, such as making the mermaids pose and expression less relaxed.
First time really trying to do a complete painting in PS. I'm not too happy with the coloured version, and I think I could definitely have given the octopus some brighter highlights, but I plan on tweaking this in the future, so hopefully I can get used to the different layer settings available.
I think the illustration is very appealing. It is effective in terms of staging, composition, character design appeal, negative space composition, colour and lighting. I think the mermaid's pose could have been pushed a bit more and contrary to the feedback in class, I think the mermaid being relaxed would make the octopus appear more ominous. I guess she wouldn't be totally relaxed about being in the ocean depths. But she is a mermaid and the ocean is her 'home', so relaxed posing would actually add visual tension in a "look behind you!" sort of way.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture Tim!
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