"Sunflower Girl"

This project was inspired by an unused thumbnail from a previous project. I liked the composition and the carefree feeling it invoked, so I was sad the idea was going to waste in an old sketchbook.

I was also meaning to create another piece in the same style as "Space Laundry," my editorial illustration that was inspired by vintage color palettes and blocky shapes. I had a lot of fun with that one the first time around, so I thought why not make another!

Left: the unused thumbnail. Right: "Space Laundry"

The journey was informal and a great side project. In the end, I didn't pull much from vintage color palettes, and the style became more organic in shape rather than blocky. 

Here is the final illustration below:

Now, the process: 

(1) First, I made the new thumbnail sketch based on the old one--but updated with juicy background details and a flower-patterned dress. 

(2) Then I started on the sketch. The background was first, and I got to try out the cool new perspective tools in Paint Tool SAI 2.

(1) Next, I finished the clean sketch and used it to make a color comp. 

(2) After that, I cleaned up the comp and started getting into final illustration territory, but I found myself unhappy with the result so far. The shadows were too red, and it was giving the wrong mood. 

(3) I adjusted the shadows to be closer to the local color and did away with the cartoony, oval-shaped blush. This formed a good base for me to play around with the colors more and start rendering where it mattered (the figure).

(4) I made a few more color adjustments to unify the overall composition. I also added flags to accentuate the wind-swept feeling and increase the depth of the environment. Adding an atmospheric haze to the image helped pop the girl out from the background and gave the illustration a more pastel look that I enjoyed.