“The animals fell silent. Lev Jurek was no ordinary hunter. It was said he left no tracks and his rifle made no sound. He traveled from village to village throughout Ravka, and where he went,

he bled the woods dry.”

— Leigh Bardugo, The Too Clever Fox

 

Bled The Woods Dry, digital and traditional media, 2020, (Shortlist 2021 Communication Arts Illustration Competition)

Process

  • Final details

  • Added in the sled tracks

  • Collaging all of the animal shapes on individual layers. Playing with blending modes and light effects

  • Mapping out the animal placement

  • First pass digitally editing the original graphite drawing

  • Scanned page of some smoke animals

  • Some of the graphite powder smoke animals created from my cut-out stencils

  • Cut-out animal shape stencils that I rubbed with graphite powder so that the paper below created the main animal bodies.

  • Graphite Drawing

  • First digital thumbnail

“Bled The Woods Dry” is my foray into the world of illustration.

It was created as an example interior book illustration to accompany Leigh Bardugo’s fairytale “The Too Clever Fox.”

I am very pleased to announce it was included in the 2021 Shortlist Communication Arts Illustration Competition.

Preparatory Work

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