Maria Luisa Di Gravio's "The Girl and the Unicorn" is a little project about a lazy girl and her special and magical friend. She wanted to depict different adventures at different times of the day and consider magical creatures fascinating, also I am a really sleepy girl, so I put together these things and it turned out this project!

I actually started the project with a single illustration, the last one. Then I thought it would be nice to continue it and to create a little story, so I had to choose different moods. I wanted to tell what kind of things a little girl and a unicorn can do, so I created different backgrounds and I pointed out the differences by placing the scenes in different times of day.
The first one has soft color because the clouds are soft and the reading time is usually a sweet time. The middle one is my favorite, bright and fresh color are in contrast to the sleepy mood of the girl and the unicorn. I've come up with this illustration while watching a suggestive video of a group of deer in a green lagoon.
The last one, which actually was the first one, is the simplest illustration of the project. I wanted to create a magical mood, so there is this enchanted forest that houses a magic moment.

- Maria Luisa Di Gravio

I started the project in a traditional way, by sketching on paper and then I completed it digitally on the computer.
The software I use is Photoshop and I made extensive use of textures, especially in the second illustration (for example, the water is entirely made with a watercolor texture).

- Maria Luisa Di Gravio

I'm glad people appreciated this project, it motivates me to keep going on and to improve my skills. I didn't actually received any practical feedback but I'm always open to hear constructive criticism, there is always more to learn! I will probably make other projects about other magical creatures or about myths and legends, I find them really fascinating.

- Maria Luisa Di Gravio

About Maria Luisa Di Gravio

Maria Luisa Di Gravio is a freelance illustrator based in Rome, Italy. She studied illustration at Officina B5, in Rome. Likes to create stories and love to draw animals, especially her furry friend Nerone, a black dog with pointy nose.

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