#WorkingOutLoud on the Planetary Illustrations

This illustration has been in my head since before Christmas: in fact I had started it in November, but it just wasn’t working, but suddenly today it just came together. Tomorrow I’ll fill in more of the details as I also start work to incorporate some of the feedback I received over the holidays.

I usually complete a manuscript before doing the illustrations (which is the opposite to how I normally work on the blog, where the illustrations tend to come first!). I have learnt that it’s best to just dive in and try things, with the acceptance that the early illustrations will not be right, but that you have to find your way to the right look and feel for a project. In this case, I started out working on illustrations of ferns, in black and white, and have ended up in a very different space! But that’s half the fun.

I’ll continue to #WorkOutLoud on these: I think I will need around a dozen, or fifteen images, which each take quite a bit of time, so I really am just at the start!