I entered my first illustration competition at the end of 2017, Tragaluz' International Illustration Award. The brief required me to choose a page from a book I had always dreamed of illustrating.
As a child I totally adored Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. I couldn't decide which of the three books to illustrate, so I chose one page from each!
.jpg)
Here is my illustration for the first book, The Northern Lights (published as The Golden Compass in the U.S.). I chose the scenewhere the young heroine Lyra is riding under the aurora on the back of Iorek, a giant warrior bear.
I created the illustration using a mix of traditional and digital media, creating different elements in watercolour and goauche, bringing it together and finishing in photoshop. Above is my original goauche painting of Lyra and Iorek. Below are some watercolour experiments I did to try out possible effects for the northern lights in the night sky.
You can also see the page I chose to illustrate below. This was such an inspiring project for me. It really pushed me to experiment with media and combining media in new ways. You can view the outcome for the second book here https://steemit.com/art/@kristenbruce/dream-project-continues
I will post my outcomes for the third books in a later post. :) Thanks for checking it out!
I like the northern lights in the night sky! Beautiful.
thanks a lot!
Wow! That is absolutely stunning! I love how you used different tools to make it look lush and layered and crisp. Absolutely gorgeous!
aw thank you so much! i loved the experimentation! :)
I think you are a very skilled artist and good at using colors
That's amazing !! it's my favorite drawing :)
Dear Artist ! This post has been resteemed from FineArtNow account ! Take a look at our latest posts : To Honor Old Masters , if you like them upvote , comment , resteem ! We very appreciate it ! See you soon !
thanks a lot guys!
Brilliant picture! I loved the book as well and I think you've managed to capture the scene in the book.
thank you Wilfredn! thats very kind, and I'm glad you think so :)
Incredible work! Followed and upvoted! :D
thank you so much! coming from a great artist like you that means a lot 😍
Amazing work @kristenbruce
Shared in a group I'm part of so hopefully it gets the attention it deserves. Keep plugging away. Steemit was made for people like you!
X
thanks so much Michael! :D
Amazing illustrating! I loved the trilogy too and find all of your effects can also be found well suited to the passages.
thank you! il be posting my work for the other two books very soon too, hope you like them too! 😀
Wow, amazing art! Well done!
thanks a lot! 😀
Out of this world picture! I enjoyed this post immensely! You are BEYOND talented! Thank you very much for sharing! I'm proudly upvoting and following! All the best! Positive Energy! Great Karma! Your Friend @extraterrestrial :)
thanks a lot extraterrestrial! your words were very kind. thanks for the follow, upvote, and positive vibes! 😎
This is magnificent! I love how you were able to capture the core of the story and finally translated it into art. The creative process was also stunning. I'm so drawn into the purple and blue hues of your watercolor process. Hope to see more of your artistry in my feed! :) Cheers
Thank you Monica! thats so kind of you. This was a really fun project for me! Great to see you are also an artist, I have followed you and look forward to seeing your work in my feed too! 😀
Awesome!! It´s a shame I don't speack english so well enough just to say how much I licke your piece of work.
Congratulations!
thank you for the kind words! your english seems very good to me!
Aye this is a stunning picture i love to see more of your work im artist myself
thank you very much! what kind of art do you make?
Im a musician/rapper i make all types of songs
This is gorgeous and ethereal. I also love the watercolour experiments in and of themselves :)
thanks so much Lily! the watercolour experiments were so much fun to do..and super relaxing too!
This is beautiful! I love your take on it - and I loved this book as well as a child. All of your background watercolor swatches are beautiful - you really captured the essence of the northern lights and the beautiful colors in the night sky!
thanks so much j-vo! so kind of you. thanks also for the resteem! it means a lot to a little baby minnow like me 😄
Beautiful work! I love the way you chose to do the shading on the polar bear's body. It adds to the mythical feeling of the scene.
thank you, i loved that technique and will definitely use it again soon! 😊