Finally I have finished a new Philbert piece. I worked on this for about three days, but I'm not sure about the hours. I wanted to do a piece with Philbert on a boat, and started off there. I had the idea with lots of water lilies in the very beginning, but couldnt incorporate them until the end. This took a lot of time mainly because of all the details in the water, but in the end I love how it turned out. The details make the whole piece feel alive. I also like how Philbert is as always so excited at the worlds wonders, while Peregrine, used to all of this, just enjoys his company.
As usual, I made a gif showing my progress.
As you see I did the typical thing with starting the sketch way too close up, and then expanding the sketch later. I think this is a good way to work because I can focus on the expression and the feeling I want first, and then add the world around them after. I stayed unusually loyal to the sketch in this piece, which makes it very easy to follow my process.
I also wanted to add the tiny trees! I saw a baby tree in the park earlier, with only a few leaves on the very top, and wanted to include this aspect. I also tried to follow some of the tips Martin Evensen said in his talk and live demo, mostly how he started with the horizon line, and went from there. He would draw details on the ground, then figure out what that looked like, and add things to the image from there. I did the same with this, and added the loose lines on the ground, which I thought resembled water. I then added the boat and Philbert.
Here are all the images in the gif incase you want to study one of them.
So, Inspirations.
I have been lurking around on pinterest as always (I do recommend checking my pinterest, as that might give you a deeper insight into my thoughts) and I often do this when I start a drawing. It keeps me motivated and inspired while I work. It is also great for me to keep record of what I see.
These are two pieces I looked at after I had the initial sketch. I did consider originally if I wanted the entire water to be covered in lilies, but i decieded against it, and wanted more fishes and details under the water. It was kind of funny to find two images so similar to my own, especially the one on the right. I do love how its drawn, and especially the rock statue underneath the water. I had already drawn my initial sketch, and was maybe around the 5th image of my sketches when I looked these up. I am not sure if they influenced anything directly.
Now, over to an artist I've followed on Instagram for a long time, Little_illy_art.
I actually discovered her work because she liked one of my images. I think our style can be very similar, and we both enjoy the humour in illustration. I messaged her and asked about her inspirations.
She is waiwanese, and can't speak english, so she used google translate to even just talk to me! I felt very honored by that, haha. She said her biggest inspirations were from videogames and nature, which I can relate to a lot. I played a lot of games growing up with my father and brother, and you can definitely see it in my art. Nature is almost a given, when you grow up on an island in norway. Nature is all we have! I love little-illy-art's works, and it gives me a lot of motivation and inspiration to see her keep on going, and keep creating wonderful illustrations.