Wombat Illustration In Watercolour
(Original Artwork SOLD)
Patreon Exclusive Video – Wombat Illustration WIP In Time Lapse Clip
Ive had a number of awesome commercial illustration commissions come onto my table this year and I have so enjoyed the array of challenges, subjects, and projects of every single one of them… but the discussion about this little wombat painting really tugged on my heart strings in particular. Its not hard to see why, its just such an adorable subject and I knew instantly it was something Id love creating.
The second my client started to describe what she was after, I had a strong flash of the image, inspired by extremely sentimental memories of a pottery wombat Ive had since I was a child. The incredible artist Chris Stubbs created it many years ago, and it came to me as a gift from my grandmother, a total treasure of mine that I adore to this day. When she started talking about her wombat idea, I could just see this illustration as clear as day in my mind. The pose of Chris’ wombat, lying so beautifully on his back, revealing his pudgy belly and gorgeous padded paws seemed fixed in my mind, so I suggested my vision to her and just like that, the direction forward for us on this piece became easily clear. I was already in love!
It was agreed, we needed a fat, happy wombat rolling about on his back, as if perfectly overfilled from eating his birthday cake, without a care in the world… honestly, the conversations had with clients over illustrations could be a whole book in itself. The places they take you is incredibly and endlessly random and funny. Certainly its a brainstorming heaven for a bunch of creatives! Making it come to life though? Well thats something completely else, a true challenge, at least to do well. Am I up for it? Absolutely I am, and in fact, I could hardly wait.
I guess I didnt wait in fact, jumping straight in to the slipstream of creativity to construct the design for my little wombat illustration while the enthusiasm ran highest. Taking care to adhere to the brief, considering the needs of the illustrations applications and use, capturing the essence of our sweet little wombat and honouring his story, meeting every challenge with a solution until my path for rendering was clear. ‘Awww! I LOVE HIM!’ was all i needed for the nod and away I went, wetting up my brushes to start the process of painting him.
‘I want a simple, loose watercolour style’ shed said to me, but I knew that I wanted to explore this wombat far larger and in far more detail than that, just for myself first. My plan was to work tighter than the brief but looser than my usual style, creating more texture and interest in this version than planned for the small illustration too. Playing with the delicate colours, soft mauve, pink and such a warm, earthy palette of browns was just a delight and soon enough his sweet little face emerged on the page before me…. There you are I smiled back, seeing just the face Id hoped for.
Sharing it with my client, she immediately fell in love also and with that, the loose watercolour idea was cast aside (yaye!) and she opted with great confidence and excitement, to continue the project in this vein. From there the tone and styling of this entire series was set, and we completed the first illustration in this Australian wildlife illustrations, our super sweet wombat very happily indeed, adding some optional accessories to dress him up to the offering as well. Such fun!
So with the first illustration complete our attentions turns to our next critter creation in the series, and we are very pleased to introduce our wombat painting to you. He is on a far bigger adventure in time from here of course, but ill check back in with you for updates as his journey unfolds.
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