The Tale of the Chocolate Shop

I forgot to post this for so long. These are pictures from a little manuscript book I made my pal Nam last year. It was based on a twitter conversation about my trip to a chocolate shop. I wanted to make it as nice as possible (since I had… er… forgotten to get her a present for her birthday AND Christmas) so I painted the pictures onto heavy card pages, hand-lettered the text in my best rounded gothic, (still not very good, hahaha) and bound it all up into a hardback book. I forgot to take a photo of the finished item though. I think the middle picture of me in the chocolate shop is one of my favourite things I drew that year!

If you’re curious, the Tale of the Chocolate Shop runs thusly:

Once upon a Time, Sarah went to the Chocolate Shop. Sarah was going to be a Good Girl, and not buy any Chocolate. But then she bought some anyway.

The book was only 3 pages long.

Sabriel

This is an illustration I did based on Sabriel, by Garth Nix. At some point I’d like to do a whole series, but I’d need to have a lot more free time.

I also realised after finishing it that I've managed to contradict the text, which is something I try very hard not to do. (Sabriel climbs steps on the way out of the valley, but not into it.)  I'm pleased with the light effects though.

Rooftops

This is a little painting I did for my Grandma, on account of being a terrible granddaughter who forgot to make her a card this year. I wrote her a letter on the back.

I also remembered to scan it at various stages, which is something I've been meaning to do for a while. You can see the original idea doodle and thumbnail on a sketchbook page, and then the sketch, ink and paint stages of the finished piece.

I'm not completely happy with the colours, I think I inked it too heavily and made the whole picture too dark. I'll do better next time.