Bringing the Backdrop Forwards

When designing each character, I was focusing on their form, expressions and colour. When finishing my design of Archie, I was very happy, I had completed one stage of my design.

How wrong I was

I had completely forgotten about the background where these characters would be placed. Indeed I hadn't even thought about designing a backdrop.

I began to look through some children's illustrations that I particularly liked which were also done in watercolour.

In each of these illustrations, a lot of attention has gone into the character's surroundings. Different colours and lighting techniques have been used to aid the character in their expression, and further create the story.

One of the settings that Archie would be situated in, is Paris in the snow. Having been to Paris, I started to brainstorm some of its key features, and which of these would be most appropriate for a children's book. These include:

1. The Eiffel Tower

2. The Parisian styled houses

3. The The Arc de Triomphe

I didn't want to limit myself to these features but I decided to try and explore and sketch.

I decided to start on the houses, whilst browsing a came across some common features.

What I found was that all of the houses seemed very tall and close together, with lots of windows, balconies and light colours.

So without thinking too much, I decided to just go ahead and start sketching.

https://vimeo.com/310142951

Although this is very rough, I'm hoping to build on this sketch and also add in some of the other features I mentioned above.

If you would like to see where some of my inspiration comes from here is a link to my pinterest board which I find really useful for quick tips and style visualisations!

If you would like to know how to recreate a time lapse video like the one above check out these apps

Hyperlapse

VideoCrop

I also used used Wevideo if you'd like to have a look at that too