New blog banner warrants a new post, surely? I changed it to a digital composition I’m working on for a fantasy battle illustration, and it feels very apt to the times I’m struggling through. It’s just a rough sketch on my iPad at the moment, with some photographs and screenshots thrown in, but I’ll be refining it and doing either a matte painting or (more likely) a traditional ink illustration.
There are also some other illustration concepts I’ve been working on. Right now there’s just a lot of sketch booking and not enough refining or painting going on, but I’m trying to go easy on myself. I’ve realised that the moment I feel better, all my stress and anxiety comes back, and I run the risk of feeling poorly again. Must do something to relax myself and not tie up feelings of self worth with productivity.
This one was actually my take on a male Arachne, as I want to explore for a personal project. I kind of dislike the association between femaleness and either divinity or monstrosity, so why not a male spider person? But also instead of a spider’s body I referenced a much chunkier crab body, which I think is more interesting whilst still maintaining that chimeric arachnoid aesthetic. Crustaceans are the insects of the marine world anyway, or at least they look like them. Especially lobsters!
Finally this last sketch is a doodle of what Harry and Ron meeting Aragog could have looked like. I didn’t reference the films or book illustrations, but wanted to do my own take on it. All the sketches in this post are very unfinished, and not all of them will see completion. But at least it’s something. A step in the right direction, if not the destination.
The Third Floor Corridor 