Animals and Creatures/ Evaluation of Final Illustrations

This project required me to make four A3 drawings of my fantasy animals. I wanted to make a matching set with my final chosen designs. I wanted them to look like some old natural history pen illustrations. To create then I first drew my animals in different poses. These were drawn very quickly using a pencil. After choosing my favourite designs I then redrew the animals using a very fine pen. I used crosshatching techniques to give them a lot of detail and add the effect of old engraving art. I haven’t done crosshatching for a long time but I think this came out really well, the crosshatching also gives the drawings a lot of depth. They were drawn quiet small so that I could include a lot of details and not spend a long time on each one. The photos below show an example of the sketches and the finished pen drawings.

A quick drawing to give me an idea when doing my final illustrations

Here are the four finished illustrations. I am very happy with how they look.

To make them look presentable I wanted to use some digital techniques. I first scanned my four illustrations into my computer and then opened them in Photoshop. The first job to do was to clean up the drawing. I wanted to have some element of print in the final piece. I thought it would be good to do some printing using materials that would give a natural texture such as leaves, sponge and paper towels. To make the prints I used a mix of different inks. The images below show those textures.

I went ahead and scanned the textures in as well so I could use them in my final pieces. Using Photoshop I changed the hue of the textures to a light brown/ sepia colour. I felt that this fit in well with the crosshatching in the pen work. It made the drawings look a lot older than what they are. I like how the texture looks and I think the bit of colour helps the illustrations stand out. I added a grey blue border to all the illustrations, I think this helps them all tie in together. The colour also makes them seam quiet old. The image below shows the final prints (drawings on the left). While I was experimenting I also tried overlaying the textures on the blue border. I also removed the sepia from the internal oval. This was purely to see what it looked like but I think it loses its charm. They seem a bit more clinical and don’t have that older feel. I do like the fact that I can see the pen work more clearly but thy just seem a bit boring.

This was the first set that I finally chose

This is the set i discarded. i still find the effect interesting.

I chose the first designs and I’m very happy with how they turned out. I didn’t crosshatch the environments round the animals because I felt I didn’t have enough time. I would like to go back and finish this at one point. I like how the colours turned out and I think they work well together. I think the blue and sepia complement each other well.