The End

Toby is my 2 year old mini Aussie, and is a faithful supporter of all of my illustration enterprises. His support is invaluable to the process as he makes sure to get all the beauty sleep that I lack!

Illustrations start out like a packet of seed. They are ideas in your mind waiting to escape, take root, and grow. Tumbnails, sketches…and more sketches make up the initial stages. If you are a list maker and a planner like me then you write down every possible word that correlates to your idea and look up the definitions. You then use all that information to begin. To begin thumbnails, sketches, value studies, and color studies.

Arguably, the most important part of the illustration is not the beginning; its the end. Each of my illustrations begin in the same way with the same methodology, but the results at the end are what set them apart. I find myself trying to understand what the subjects of the piece would feel like. What would they do? Asking myself to become them for a moment allows me to express what they are really saying.

The Grasshopper was born in Children’s book Illustration 1. He was a simple sketch inspired by Aesop’s fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. A year and a half later I decided that I wanted to finish what I had started. When I begin a project I become engrossed in it until I can reach the end. I think If I was a horse I would be a racehorse. I like to run, I like to move, and I like to do.

So in true Hannah fashion, I made my color studies and got to work. I took a professor’s advice and tried out a technique new to me. I rendered the piece using hard pencils and then put watercolor over that, thereby combining two of my favorite media. “Why had I not done it sooner?” was the first thought in my mind! I will definitely be using it in future projects. A pencil underdrawing allows me to develop values and small details. I love whimsy, but realism is another love. This technique can be used for both styles making it a great fit for my illustrations.

But back to the point. The pieces I make, that I agonize over, and fall in love with all end. They cease to be a part of my daily thoughts and get placed in a neat file folder or sent off to their new home. The change of pace can be nice, but the thrill of making something new replaces it in an instant. All the efforts and hard work that I placed into each and every detail attests to my love. My love of making something that tugs at your heartstrings. As cliche as it sounds the end of a piece is never the end, its only the beginning. I hope as you look through my work that something begins in you. That you go out and make. Make what you are good at; make something that will make this world a better place!