Collector {Process Post}

Postcard design for May 2022 Patreon, Collector. 

I wanted to do a theme around a butterfly collection and natural sciences. As a museum addict (ahem, looking at my previous theme of Fossil), I couldn't resist another opportunity to draw more history of the earth. Compared to fossil's designs of yellows and brown, I wanted to focus on another color scheme, in this case, blue and grays. 

So with these thoughts in mind, I proceed to work on "Collector". As inspiration, I pulled images and designs from Wunderhammers (or cabinet of curiosities) from a previous era where humans are still curious about the workings of the natural world. 

But I want her design to be less antique and more modern. I thought about an contemporary Ikea style of display juxtaposed with old treasures. 

Collector's design has touches of ancient (lantern and shawl) with aspects of modern (her shoes). I spent a ton of time working on her color contrast as well, trying to work the gray colors to stand out but still not overpower all the blues. 

I actually draw the design in two levels. At first, I wanted to do my usual: all line art on one layer and then color, but this drawing proved too tricky. 

I ended up flattening the entire drawing, and then separating the girl and the background. Then I repainted her on one layer and redraw the background. By breaking up the drawing into multiple sections, it makes all the confusing details in the back more easier to digest. Unfortunately because she is almost entirely painted now, I am unable to save the lineart this month. 

Collector was a theme that took me way more hours to finish than normal. Everything was detailed and intricate. But I think she is worth it in the end and I am excited to see how she will look like printed out!

Thank you for reading today and I hope to get some more time to draw again soon TvT ;;