Autumn Camping
I wanted to make a cozy illustration inspired by fall/autumn where a big group of friends, creatures and animals could all enjoy an evening together by the campfire at the cottage. I really do enjoy the simple things and don't take being in nature for granted, so I show that in a lot of my recent work, as I live in the city. It is important to appreciate the little things and having a peaceful moment with good people is something I am always grateful to experience when I can.
I love themed, cozy illustrations that accompany each new changing season. I made this during the middle of autumn, and wanted to capture a calm, relaxing environment with friends, all inspired by fall colours and the changing leaves. For some reason, I draw my characters/creatures camping and in the forest a lot!
I started with a sketch on paper and pencil, scanned the work, and inked and coloured it in Adobe Photoshop. It took me a while to figure out what colour scheme I wanted to go with, but opted on a mostly monochromatic one in order to challenge myself, set a cozy autumn atmosphere, and provide unity to the piece.
I've received positive responses as a lot of what people like about it is the atmosphere created. I challenged myself to stick to a particular colour theme and only use mostly orange and blue (contrasting colours) for this illustration, and it really came out better than expected. I had a teacher in school that let me know in front of my entire class that I had an issue using highly saturated pastel colours frequently in my work, and that it should be a pattern I recognize and stop doing all the time. So hopefully, this is some sort of growth from that. Also, after completing this I realized how much I really love creating full scenes that look like they're out of a comic book or movie where the whole scene is set. It's fun creating little moments in time in these worlds I make up.
I love this, so cute!