Today, I am happy to share the process and steps that went into one of my four illustrations in the recently released Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Candlekeep Mysteries. For this installment, I am sharing the companion piece to last week's post of the Skitterwidget. The Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget were a pair of pieces that needed to be adult and child versions of a mechanical dog-cockroach-like construct that the players would encounter. Here is the final painting for the Kiddywidget.
As previously mentioned, I designed the Skitterwidget and Kiddywidget in adult and child pairings. This way, production could look at the two versions and pick their favorites. I wanted them to have a familial connection and not look like two random robot creatures. Since I had free range with the design process, save for them being reminiscent of a mechanical dog-cockroach. I will say the Kiddywidgets were a bit more fun to design due to the challenge of making a cuter child-like version of the adult designs. While I don't do cute often in my work, I feel like I accomplished it well with this assignment. Here are the thumbnail pairings I submitted.
As before, I personally preferred the 'C' options, but the 'B' Kiddywidget was a close second. There was something about the 'C' Kiddywidget that I loved. With options 'B' as the approved thumbnails, it was time to move forward on the final drawing.
As with the Skitterwidget, the drawings were approved, and I was ready to start painting. There were no further notes, and I was free to make the monsters come to life. Here is the painting taking shape.
With the Skitterwidget painted first, I had a template to work from and adjust. Since I was now painting a child version, I wanted to be mindful of the level of wear and tear I put on the construct. I also wanted to make sure the overall piece was brighter and lighter. I shifted things more yellow overall and made sure the shadows were not as dark. I added a fair amount of blue and green into the piece to keep it bright and colorful. While I am not sure this direction is correct, and I didn't think about it in advance, it simply felt like the right direction to take the piece. Call it dumb luck or call it
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
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