This is a selection of my favourite illustrations which resulted from my decision to partake in Inktober 2017, wherein I challenged myself to create an ink illustration every day in October 2017. As I was creating an image every day over the course of a month the subject matter of this project varies greatly and it is interesting to track how my influences and my artistic style jumped around and developed over the course of the month. It was a fascinating opportunity for me to retrospectively assess my artistic process over a long period of time.

I was inspired by the fact that many of my favourite artists and illustrators were partaking or had partaken in Inktober in previous years. I was interested to see if I could keep up that level of conistency for a month and what kind of effect it would have on my artistic development. Initially I stayed within the parameters of the challenge and used solely ink but as time went by I began to experiment with colouring with watercolour and eventually was inspired by Lois Van Baarle's work to try digitally colouring my traditionally inked lines, which had the interesting effect of making the drawings look like they were lifting of the page!

As this project encompassed many illustrations I used a number of different methods. My primary method was to begin by laying down pencils, basing my drawing either on a reference image or on whatever was in front of me, often buildings. If I intended to colour the image with watercolour I would apply the watercolour over the pencil lines and ink over that when the watercolour dried. If not, I would ink over the pencils, erase the pencil lines, take a photo of the drawing, usually leaving a bit of my sketchbook seam in shot and then I would colour the under the lines digitally by setting the photograph layer to multiply in Adobe Photoshop. For digital colouring I alternate between using standard photoshop brushes and Ahmed Aldoori's brushes which can be found on Gumroad. My preferred watercolour brand is Windsor and Newton and for inking I use any small felt-tip pens I have to hand!

The response to my project was very supportive which was very motivating for me! As it was a month long project it was extremely encouraging to have people come up to me in real life, not just in comments, and say they were really enjoying seeing my work everyday and that they hoped I managed to complete it. From a more commercial standpoint it was interesting to see the types of works which performed better over the course of the month than others. For myself I think it was an extremely worthwhile exercise as it forced me to be ok with posting work which I may not have considered 'complete' but which others responded extremely positively to. In other words partaking in Inktober helped me to stop agonising over my work so much before I post it and to get back into enjoying the process of creating more!

I am currently open for commissions and open to any and all freelance illustration projects, particularly those related to character design, environment design or comic art.
You can find my work at :
Portfolio: https://meganluddy.myportfolio.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megan_luddy/
Tumblr: https://meganluddyillustration.tumblr.com/
or email me at: [email protected]

Megan Luddy

Hi! I'm a freelance illustrator based Cork, Ireland. My work spans character design, environment design and narrative storytelling. My work is mainly aimed at the markets of concept design and comic art but can also encompass editorial illustration. I have created editorial illustrations for a number of publications including Trinity News, T- Life Magazine and TN2 Magazine. I have also been commissioned to do fashion design concept work for the athletic wear brand FinalBend Fitness. In 2016 I created a full graphic novel called 'Constellation' which won several student awards. My love for history, fantasy, fashion, architecture and nature heavily influences my personal illustration projects and helped me develop my own personal style. I work both digitally and traditionally, sometimes incorporating the two, and am particularly talented with watercolour and ink. I am constantly inspired by the evolving nature of the illustration industry to create exciting and meaningful work.

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