Hello All!
Great progress this week, I am officially done with the
first section of the chapter. I have a very detailed plan as to how I’m going
to go about completing the rest, so let’s hope everything stays on track.
Animal studies were the focus this week as far as
illustrations, since one of the subjects in the chapter is a horse, whom I have
had to illustrate many times so far.
This is a picture of one of them that I am sort of satisfied
with:
What I’m happy about is that over the course of this
project, I feel like I’ve been forced to grow and be adept at drawing almost
anything. Up until this project, all I ever really sketched or painted were
people, faces in particular. But now that I’m having to illustrate so many
different things: horses, trees, mountains, skies, clouds, etc. I’m changing
the way I learn. When I illustrated faces, I was solely concerned with how to
draw eyes, or how to draw the nose, basically how to draw any specific object
or part. But now that all of the sudden I’m required to illustrate so many
different things, I’m learning less about how to draw specific things, but rather
I’m just learning how to draw in
general, which is great for my growth as an artist.
What I’m currently starting with the animations is probably
going to be one of the toughest yet, the fiery illustrations I posted last
week. To be honest, I only have a vague idea in my mind of how I want it to
look, so I’m definitely and a bit of a stand still as far as those go.
This weekend, one of the next huge things I have to figure
out is how I’m going to format this entire hybrid novel, and find out what
medium I’m going to use. First, the big decision I have to make is choosing
between an eBook, and a web story. If it’s going to be on the internet, that
removes any publishing business from the entire work, but if it’s going to be
an eBook, I need to find out how I’m going to incorporate sound into the work.
Truthfully, this is something I know very little about, so this weekend I’m
just going to finish up one of my illustrations and get right to work on that.
I have some ideas of whom I want to contact for more info, so I will keep you
guys posted on my findings.
Talk to you later!
~Keanan~
Beautiful imagery! You say that you used to draw primarily people. Did you transition to animals, landscapes, etc. to accommodate the story line of your novel? Or did you always intend to someday add your own illustrations?
ReplyDeleteIt's cool that this project has pushed you outside of your comfort zone!
Illustrating the novel was a relatively recent ambition of mine, it only really took hold in my mind around a few years ago, and it's never something I'd made much progress with up until now. Before, I would always just have simple sketches and portraits of my characters that I'd like to make for myself. But after I started getting better at art, and I became more and more obsessed with the idea of a highly visual novel, I decided that I try illustrating the whole series.
DeleteSo I'm not really sure if I ever really would have started painting landscapes or animals or whatnot had I not decided to illustrate the novel. I was always pretty content just with painting people, but I'm glad that this project has given me the opportunity to expand my horizons a bit, and explore painting new things because I'm really enjoying becoming more versatile as an artist!
Thanks!
What Megan said! Looking great, Keanan. Can't wait to see more!
ReplyDeletePH
Hey Keanan, I think the drawings are coming out great! I really like the dark, brooding theme in all of the ones you've shared so far. So when you decide to make it an eBook or a web story, is it going to be free? Or do you plan on making some money on this? I think it can definitely be sold!
ReplyDeleteHi Bhanu, to be honest, I haven't thought far enough ahead to think of whether or not this will be for profit. Some very beautifully illustrated and engaging stories are completely free to the public, while others are very expensive to read.
DeletePersonally I have never really considered people actually wanting to pay to see/read my work, since I'm only just starting out. But it's definitely a nice thought to entertain later on!
After doing some research I've found instances of artists who publish web comics for free, but they have supplemental materials such as side stories, or promotional art, etc. available for purchase. On sites like Patreon, popular artists/writers can make a lot of money not from the stories they write, but by the accompanying bonus material they sell to their fans. So in this case, I was figuring if the series ever got popular enough, I might have an extra scene that people can purchase if they want, or bonus portraits of my characters, or just pieces of writing that delve further into the entire world and its characters.