I mentioned in an earlier post this week that I would be putting together a page from the book in order to start experimenting with colour. So yesterday I created this image for page one:
All of the characters appear on the page, each engaging in their own activity which will develop throughout all the pages. I've added in a few extra details such as the bird on a hedge in the foreground overlooking the rest of the characters. This bird will turn out to be the fairy godmother who helps cinderella. In fact all 3 of the birds in the image are there to help out various characters in the book (birds are a recurring theme in fairytales, often representing salvation).
Its difficult to see in this image as this is much smaller than the final print-out will be, but there is a witch hiding behind the tree house watching Hansel and Gretel, and the wolf is following Little Red Riding Hood. There's also a "shy" dwarf hiding behind a hedge on the far right and side. The apples that Little Red Riding Hood are those that will later be poisoned by the witch and used to try and kill Snow White. There is a painting of some apples up in Rapunzel's tower (apples are another recurring theme in fairytales and a key connection between the characters in my book), and Snow White's reflection can be seen in the Queen's mirror in the castle. I've also included several love heart motifs throughout the image, such as in tree markings and on one of the dwarfs' tops.
There's quite a lot more symbolism and other details in the other pages of the book that will become more apparent as the story develops, and everything will also be much clearer once colour is added.
I've now started to create some textures which I will use to experiment with colour in this image. I want to try out quite a wide variety of colouring techniques before I move on to complete the rest of the images.
I'll be scanning these textures in and applying colour before using them on the image.