Did some sketches of Techo to get an idea for a lovely clunky Knight with some good shapes. I actually had an illustration by Chris Riddell in my head when I drew, from last year’s ditching trip, of a knight on a horse.
You can see I chose my favourite image for composition and worked it up. The black horse frames her, and I think having a huge horse gives her scale as such a small Knight, which is the point of the illustration.
I loved using the gloaming brush quickly and expressively to get those shiny tones on the armour and creating shape. I put a pale blue pin light solid layer under her and the horse, and I think it gives her a wonderful quality that also means it interacts with the sunset in the background and places her within the scene.
Important to note that I was actually working this illustration up with a technical pencil and I was getting frustrated because the mood wasn’t coming across. I switched to a more expressive chalk brush, and still wasn’t happy, but then I made the brush a LOT bigger and started working faster and more expressively. That’s when I got the feeling I needed to transplant from the sketch.
In terms of working quickly and coming back with a really effective illustration, I’m really happy with this. The lines and colours are inspired by my drake and Ludwig in autumn image, which was me going totally experimental and creating something hugely successful in my opinion.
SEASIDE ILLUSTRATION 