Literal Illustration

Brief:
Over three weeks create a set of illustrations for different features of a book. Illustration for an adaptation of a horror audio play.

My story to adapt into illustration was The Man in Black's 'Dead Man's Boots' which first released January 1991.

Illustrations that spooked me- They stick with you

Mini Grey

Grey's illustrations from Roald Dahl's 'Songs and Verses' book really stuck with me. The mix between a 3D form and realistic colours paired with the figures unnatural features really impacted me, I'd have to skip the pages with her work on them.

Turns out she illustrated 'Traction Man'! A nostalgic book for me about an action figure that's goal is to clean from what I remember.

Lane Smith

Quentin Blake

Arthur William Price- The Phantom

''long dead image...stared unblinkingly, almost threateningly, the clipping is blurred, damp stained, frightening image.'

'the great bulk of him'

'a fiendish face'

'stench of decay'

His face is hard. His stocky, muscular body is hardly contained by his cheap tweed suit.

The Setting and Myra Duncan

Using clues in the text I attempted to pin a time period of the piece. I feel that 1950 London is when and where the story is set.

Exploring the text

The Vignette

The boots- 'Steel toecaps and hobbin-nails', the soles are worn and they appear very old. 'Pair of very large clay clogged boots'
The bed shawl- crocheted and faded

Early on I gravitated towards drawing the boots for the vignette.

Assets for Vignette

Putting the parts together in Photoshop

In reflection it is clear that the boots that I made for the vignette were much too round and were not ominous, they did not fit with the mood of the illustration. I painted a much more rough and gritty pair of boots for the final vignette.

<----They look like his boots.

Vignette iteration two

I received the feedback that there wasn't a clear focus of the vignette, from this it was advised to make the boots less textured so that the couple by the door was were the eye would be drawn to.

Less textured boots

Final Vignette

The Full Bleed Illustration

Media Exploration

Pencil and Gouache

Coloured Pencils and Gouache

Alcohol Pens

Oil Pastel

I received feedback on these explorations, my main feedback was that my lack of reference was really hindering the illustration, and that my colour palate wasn't creating the atmosphere that should've been created. It came across more suitable for a children's book rather than a SCARY horror illustration. This set me on a new path.

I created a reference using a combination of three photos, and also worked with the images below as reference.

I used this poster as an influence on the colours, using yellows, blues and purples for the final piece.

Rian Hughes- Lifestyle Illustration

Without Editing

Edited

For the first pass the image was quite murky and I thought could be pushed further, and so I added to the illustration to give more hints to the time period of the 1960s.