05/04/2024
Hello everyone, this is Veronique J. Morais.
As you must know, I drew the art of Lily of the Valley myself. This includes chapter separators, chapter headers, and the book cover.
I studied visual arts in college and during most of my childhood. Usually, I draw landscapes and animals using an ordinary HB pencil or black ink. However I also have experience with acrylics and woodwork.
There are 3 different kinds of headers, but all of them were drawn digitally; based on a photo/imagination, based on a drawing, or based on a 3d posing doll. The software I use is Corel Painter 2020 (perpetual license).
I have a drawing tablet and special brushes that emulate pencil and airbrush techniques. Some drawings take approximately 2 hours to complete and others take about 8 hours.
Sometimes, I use hand drawn art, made with a regular HB pencil in a sketchbook, and then I re-draw it later using a digital art software.
Complicated subjects
When I have to draw a complicated subject, I do more research and planning. For instance, I really wanted to draw Willow, which is a draft horse. They are notoriously difficult to draw, so I had to be more resourceful and went to see some horses in person. I went during spring to examine their winter coat and see how it looks like.
I met this one, who is from Les écuries les cèdres. She has a black undercoat and a brown winter coat, neat no?
In order to start working on the header, I used a 3d sketching software called MangaKa (articulated animals are in a separate DLC) to make an interesting pose and setting to use as a reference. I also build the environment around him using stretched out cubes and a fish-eye lens on the camera. The reference looks like this.
Then I used it as a guide on how to pose "Willow", the powerful draft horse mentioned in the story. Willow is a mix of Percheron and Quebec logging horses. There is a door frame on the left of him that gives a better idea of his size. He has a dark chestnut undercoat and a black fur coat in winter.
Once the initial sketch is done, I can work on the header as usual. The headers usually have a focus on 1 subject and a background that is semi surrealist. I also give attention to accuracy by only using local animals, plants and landscapes as references. For instance in the case of the barn, it will have a lot of hay in storage, and since Willow is a large horse, he has a notch on his horseshoe and, will have a huge pile of food besides him.
Some of the drawings are inspired by real places that I visited when I was younger, such as the Trestler House. This manor is available for visits and is located in Vaudreuil-Dorion (Quebec, Canada).
I also plan to visit eastern Quebec soon to sketch more landscapes for the book. During this trip, I'll work on finalizing the ARC copy, but I'm still saving up for the trip. I just need to save up a bit more money and plan it properly. Hopefully, I can go sometime in June.
I'll make sure to post photos and sketches of the landscapes once I go.
Written by Veronique J. Morais
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