How it took a whole year and six pieces to evolve a concept
Sometimes you have a great idea, but the finished art looks a lot worse than how you imagined it, and that’s okay! You can always shelve it and come back to it later when you have a lightbulb moment on how to improve it. In my case it took multiple iterations as well as a style evolution throughout the process.
1. Aquarium II - Nov 14, 2021
I started with a pretty solid idea of fish inside glass baubles of water, with a palette of yellow, orange, pink, lavender, and sky blue. I kind of like how the design turned out with the filigree and the cats, but the palette just wasn’t working out. It’s probably because I didn’t put in enough contrast and dark areas, but I hit a wall with this one and put it aside, unfinished.
2. Koi Pond (Winter) - Jan 3, 2022
Using the palette of ‘Aquarium II’ as well as the two circling koi, I expanded it into a pond of circling fish. I did like this one and even made an animation of the fish swimming, but it still felt like something was missing.
3. Circular Motion - Feb 21, 2022
I decided to go full Escher with the fish tessellation (everything is flush, no spaces between) and also push the palette and contrast. I really didn’t like the result. The colours look dull and bland, and the fish look weird. It was partly because of this piece that I decided I wouldn’t do perfect tessellations if it made the animals look weird.
4. Aquarium - May 25, 2022
The first true success from this concept! This is part of the trio that uses the same palette, including ‘Arboretum’ and ‘Archives’. I put the aquatic creatures in clear baubles once again, and my lineart style is more established at this time.
5. Koi Pond - Jun 18, 2022
I fell in love with this palette of yellow, orange, pink, green, and dark green. It’s just a recolour of the previous ‘Koi Pond (Winter)’, but the lines feel wishy-washy to me now that my style has thicker lineart.
The final success of this concept! This is part of another trio that includes ‘Flock’ and the upcoming ‘Flutter’. I kept to the theme by adding cats observing the main subject, and used a minimal palette so that the center koi would stand out more.
In the end, I am still attached to the two ‘Koi Pond’ variations. I want to get them to a place where I feel like they are complete, but I don’t yet know how. So, they will just hang out in their respective folders until then.