Commission

(click for a large view)

Mary Johnson commissioned this illustration for her children's book-in-progress, A Drive of Dragons. Her request was a rather ambitious one for me, what with there being four characters in it, one of which is a dragon - but it was great fun to work on and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I was amazed at just how much more 'lived in' and lively the picture became when I thought of adding the saddle, sword, branches and blanket. I tend to forget about these things completely, which is kind of bad. But hey, I thought of them this time! That means I'm improving.

This scene was pencilled, then transferred to Arches Hot-Pressed using a lightbox, then inked with Staedtler pens, and finally painted with Winsor & Newton watercolours. To prove that I can be a leeettle bit professional about art sometimes, I had done a watercolour sketch first to determine the colours before I started painting the final version. Go me! ;)