Nimue - stages of production

For my recent piece of work I wanted to push myself and try and bridge the plateau which I felt my work was on. I decided to browse some fashion photography mainly because there is a high chance of viewing posed models in a professional manner and not selfies. I found a few for inspiration and compiled a very rough photomanipulation of all the elements which appealed to me and this was my starting point. 

I started this project in a completely different manner than any of my others. Normally I work completely freehand which works well from side profile work but I wanted this piece to have a natural symmetrical look without one side being completely off from the other. To tackle this I very faintly drew a grid on my paper and also created a digital grid of my manip and started drawing this way. To be frank I found this a quicker way of creating a sketch than completely freehand. I was also naturally more able to 'ad-lib' and steadily work over the initial sketch adding in my own variations and composition elements. 

Next I added in my watercolour washes which I use as a guide and also a 'fill' of background colour to work up from. I then proceeded to add in detail with watercolour pencil/artist colouring pencil in a layering technique. Beforehand I had tended to add in all the details in one small area in quick layers but this time I tackled a complete area [her face] and found that all aspects blended in a lot more effectively. I also used some colours I would not have normally regarded as skin tone colours but found this really effective in creating a more realistic look. Further more I used blenders etc to tone down the pencil strokes and create a more fluid aesthetic.

Each area was tackled individually which allowed me to work around the piece more freely. After her face came her hair and beyond that the fossils, shells and then the fish. The background elements where tackled last. The final stage is the stage I find the hardest, adding in the shadow tones and final lines. I tend to use way too much black/blue/grey so I really hard to restrain myself. When I thought I was finished I walked away and left the piece for a while. I decided if I returned and genuinely felt something needed altering then go for it but if I was being nit-picky over shading to really regard the work and see if it was a genuine alteration. 

Once I pack everything away I do not then go back and edit things so I felt relieved when this piece was finished. I feel I have evolved quite a bit since I started this type of work in earnest and I would be very interested to compare my first piece, this piece and say a piece next June to see how my work has changed. Sadly to some but not to me I find this such an exciting and interesting phase in my artistic career. 

Exciting few months!

Where does the time go??

The past couple of months have been super busy what with one thing or other and with Christmas just around the corner everything is busy busy busy beeeee!!

I have been doing a lot of sketching lately, I've been really wanting to improve on how I draw people and faces. Looking through my old work I see a lot of my illustrations held the characters in poses where the face was obscured or turned away, which compared to now is the complete opposite. I really think you have to put yourself in a position of being uncomfy with your work. To begin with it might all turn out rather dire but the next try and the try after that will show a marked improvement and then a couple of months down the line to compare the first with the most recent will show a dramatic difference.

[© Laura Ashford, 'Cinderella']

[© Laura Ashford, 'Vampire']

What style are my illustrations based on? I really do not know, I tend to garner inspiration from a variety of sources and I hope my own style is created the process. I don't sit down and copy other peoples work, I tend to look at what they've done over time and when I sit down to do my own work I do not look at anyone elses at all. I just create what I can, what my hands will let me.

More recently still, the last week in fact, I have been concentrating on fairies again. My aim is create the fairies in triptychs with each triptych being on a slightly different theme. With Christmas soon and snow and winter in general the first set will be based around snow and snowflakes.

I would say the biggest body of work I have finished lately is the 1-10 project which was quite a bit more demanding that I expected but equally as fun and very skill pushing. I draw the master copies out and then, like a deck of cards, mixed them up and tackled each one in turn that way. This also allowed for the monotony of 1, 2, 3, 4... to go out the window. I was asked which one is my favourite recently and if I had to say probably numbers 5 and 6 just because they were so fun to do. Number 9 was the first one I completed and number 7 was the hardest. Maybe I like number 10 the best just because it is slightly different, the character is posed face on instead of profile to mark a change from single to double digits. In fact, I enjoy them all equally I feel thinking on it properly.

[© Laura Ashford, '1-10 Preview']

So all in all a hectic few months but exciting none the less and more so now than ever. The bubbly feeling that if you put in all the hard work, don't cut corners, don't take breaks, don't sit on your laurels, don't holiday, is finally starting to kick in and everything is exciting!