Behind The Art: Green Gables Piece

Like I promised, I wanted to share bits of the Anne of Green Gables colored pages with you! This is a little visual breakdown of the star of the show (no, not Anne) : Green Gables, the house itself. I've said this before--I'm not comfortable with environments, especially not inorganic structures like buildings, so this was a learning experience for me. I'm literally learning how to do this stuff as I go (but I also feel myself getting better with practice).

There are three pages (including the cover) in which Green Gables is in the composition. Taking into account how much (or how little rather) I'm getting paid for this whole book (9k, 7.5k after my agent's cut is taken out), I have to streamline my process and simplify things that would otherwise be very complex. Let me clarify again that even though this pay is low, and I won't be getting royalties, I knew this going in. It was the first contract I signed and my agent and I agreed that it would be best for my portfolio. (Little did I know that shortly after I would be getting much higher paying jobs--oh well!)

Anyways--simplification--I'm reusing this same front-on 1-point-perspective shot and changing it slightly for the three times it has to be in the book. So far, it's working okay. I was worried that reusing this asset would be obvious, but after seeing it at sunset, it feels completely different. 

Just wanted to give you a little insight as to what's going on in my head as I work on this book. I'm a little less than halfway through completing all the illustrations! I work on this a little bit (or a lot) every day now, and hope to be done by mid-February. Then it's onto sketches for the other three books I'm scheduled to do! Unfortunately I won't be able to share work from two of the three due to Non-disclosure agreements. 

I hope you're doing well today. Maybe let me know what you're up to if you'd like. I've got you on my mind!

-JG