Intermission - A little illustration job

My agent in London NB illustration passed on a nice little illustration job to me recently doing a pitch for a book publisher to take to the Frankfurt Book Fair. The book is a new fully illustrated edition of the I-Ching for which I was asked to do two sample illustrations for page mock ups.  The first half page full colour picture is of a chinese junk, the second a typical misty Chinese mountain with ascending path.

The first sketch I sent (Above) had all the elements , but not enough vavavoom. Not oriental enough, so I spiced it up with more than a hint of eastern promise, sent it off and it was a hit. (Below)

 

The Junk needed a bit of work as it currently looks like a bathtub, which I corrected for in the print sketch. 

Final print. As you can no doubt see the main inspiration for the waves was good 'ole Hokusai's 'Great Wave' and other wave images from his 100 views of Mount Fuji. Although I put a lot of effort into the various sections and shades of blue in the foreground waves. Really wanted to get a sense of depth and distance in, with the feel that the sea was choppy all the way to the horizon. Really pleased with the way it turned out, more so now that I can see it fresh, not having looked at it for a couple of months.

Next post: The misty mountain...