Lately I've been looking at my recent artwork and have felt frustrated by the lack of consistency between pieces. I think part of this is due to me being so busy with commission work; which is utterly amazing; that when I do sit down to work on my own stuff I tend to flit between ideas and mediums. I decided that to counteract these feelings it would be best to start a fun little personal project!
I sat down and started making a list of what I wanted to focus on. I knew I wanted to go back to my monochromatic art and since I've been enjoying creating a lot of digital art with an inky style, that this would be my main focus. From here I started listing adjectives I would want to describe the finished work; whimsical, slightly creepy, witchy; which helped me narrow down onto a subject matter! I also made a small list of what I wanted to improve on, which was botanicals, animals, bones, and minerals! Once I had set all these parameters in place an idea came to mind which sounded like it would be so much fun to work on. My own Creature Compendium of original nature spirits!
I was so excited to start working that I created a list of twelve prompts to keep me focused and so far I've ticked off the first two, Peonies and a Luna Moth. From my peony prompt I was able to create my first creature, a peony Eyeshy, a nature spirit that inhabits a variety of flowers and peeks out of their centre with a single eye. My Luna Moth prompt inspired the creation of my second creature, a Luna Mothalope, a variety of antlered moth spirit.
So far I'm really happy with the first two illustrations of this new project and I'm excited to create more creatures! I hope you find them interesting to look at!