HOLES: WORKING ON A BOOK COVER
Here’s the process on how I decided to approach a little challenge: illustrating the cover of the book Holes by Louis Sachar to add variety to my illustration portfolio.
RESEARCH
First of all, you read the book, or watch the movie + read the book, although the movie follows the book quite closely, there are a few little changes, and some descriptions from the book are really helpful to define certain things.
From what I watched and read, I wanted to include: the holes, the peaches, the onions, and the lizards, and the fact that it was extremely extremely hot.
SKETCH IDEAS
I tried some ideas, but the actual hole kept sticking on my mind, so I tried to stick to trying to depict a hole on a profile cut view, adding the other elements to it.
I did like how the above sketch ⇧ came out, but wasn’t sure about the profile cut, and couldn’t see more than one hole, so I tried more ideas like this one bellow ⇩
DRAW A CLEAN SKETCH
At the end, I decided that I could mix some ideas together and came up with a sort of mix of all
Once I did that, and since I didn’t have a Lightbox yet (I have recently purchased the HUION LS4 Light table which was on offer, and I am currently testing if it’s bright enough to trace on 300g Arches paper, I hope so! cause the price was a bargain).
Notice I drew the outline of my drawing using yellow color, to later fix certain things with red. I am allowed to do this as I working with gouache, which is an opaque medium, if it were watercolor this would be sacrilegious haha. Btw, I am totally in love with these little lead holders made by Koh-i-noor, they are so cute and small, and cheap too! Since they come in different colors, I use different lead colors in them, do keep in mind they are quite small (almost 4.5”) as they are portable, so if your hand is like mine, you won’t have a problem, but for bigger sizes I would recommend a longer or average size model :P!
PAINTING EXPLORATION
Then the whole fun part begins as I enjoy painting so so much! :D
This is the result after painting it with gouache, I will do modifications and test other ideas using this as a base using procreate.
Some modifications turned out, here’s a sample of them, let me know which one you like more!
From the above covers, which one would you choose? I have two favorites, I really liked the intense red on the cover with the hug-enormous sun, as it makes it feel extremely hot, makes you thirsty, which is how the setting of the book is depicted.
FINAL RESULT
So that’s all! What do you guys think of the process and the outcome? It was quite an adventure for me, but I had much fun and learning!
If you want to know more, and see behind the scenes, don’t forget to subscribe or follow me on Instagram @kiyary , I post daily and share short reels with my work in progress too or subscribe to my Youtube channel and check out my videos with more details on the artist’s life, painting processes, tools, materials, adventures, and tips! I love to go outdoors to paint plus I also enjoy painting and working in the studio :D
Now my friends, go out, explore and happy painting! 🎨
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