"Another Like Me" Process

Yay, something fun to post!  This painting has evolved soooo much.  I definitely took my time, got a lot of feedback, made many changes, and learned a ton along the way.  I started this while I was in my Painting Drama class (still need to do a review of that class because it was so awesome!).  This painting started with an idea I had of a girl holding a bottle with a strange creature inside.  I didn't have any story behind it (bad idea).  So I quickly sketched some rough ideas and then took some ref photos - I love seeing people's embarrassing ref photos, so here's one of mine, lol.

Once I started to paint I came up with the idea that she is albino (and an outcast) and she finds another creature that is albino like herself.  (I went through a phase when I was a kid in which I really wished I was albino, that's probably where I got that from 0.0).  Anyways, after painting it for a while I kinda liked it but I knew something was off about it.  Her expression was weird and I didn't really have a story as to why the creature was in the bottle.  I didn't really know what my next step was. Then I went for coffee with Iain McCaig.

He was nice enough to have a look at a couple pieces I was working on and gave me some great feedback.  The first question was "What's the story?".  It really sunk home just how important having a story behind an illustration is.  If you don't have a story behind it, how are you going to know what you want the viewer to feel or what mood to set?  So much more goes into a great illustration other than just a cool pose or fancy lighting. Also, acting.  Acting is huge. That is something I need to work on. The blank stare is not a good look.

I decided to just redo it all, taking Iain's advice and all the great info I had continued to learn through the Painting Drama class. On to the next version:

 I finally finished it with the helpful crits of my "PD circle of trust crew" ( you guys rock!).  I'm pretty happy with it.  I learned a lot during this and I'm excited to create more pieces with all the great info I learned throughout the year.