Tags
beautiful dresses, book illustration, catei, laura baban, portfolio, stories, website illustration
So recently I have been working on a really pleasant project. As delightful to work on as a cup of warm cocoa with marshmallows. Or ..I donno..anything that makes you warm and fuzzy inside. It started as a series of images to be part of the website design for her book site, which you can visit here (It’s written in Romanian though, but you may still enjoy the images).
Laura is a very talented writer and a really inspiring person. But her actions are even more inspiring than her words. She encourages me to go out more, work on creating beautiful moments for me and my relationship, instead of just sitting around waiting for magic to happen. She, her boyfriend (a photographer) and a really sweet and silly dog named Tic have been all over my Facebook feed with stories they make up in their photos. A charmed atmosphere, filled with love, happiness, giddiness, gorgeous dresses and props. Now all the stories told in images and Facebook statuses are taking the shape of a book. They are an illustrator’s dream.
Here is also a version you can scroll through, as intended.
I knew i couldn’t just play with motives in this. It needed a cute story. And since most of the content of the book happens throughout a year, I wanted to show the seasons transitioning as you scroll through the website. However Tic’s actions happen in a very short time. He is running through the fields, he sees the dresses fluttering in the wind, then starts a tug game with one of them. He ends up stealing it and running away with it through summer. Until he sees something shining in the autumn light: a rock! This is something the real Tic seems to be obssessed with. He leaves the dress for the rock and runs all the way to winter. But..oh..what happened? There is ice under the snow. Tic tries to break, but it’s too late. He lands right on his nose. Thankfully, the snow made the landing a bit smoother. Lastly, a happy ending, where Laura, Andrei and Tic enjoy the winter and each other.The idea was that of time passing by when you’re having fun. I studied Tic’s behavior and personality, as well as that of the owners’. Studied their movements, their smiles, their clothes, the way they hold themselves. Then came a loooot of study sketches. Here’s only a few.
And here are the original characters. I believe most of the photos if not all of them are done by Andrei. You can see more of his work here.
Then came the draft in color, with a rough idea of the story. And a billion hours later came the polishing. Previously my focus was on environments and props, so it was quite a challenge to make characters in my style while also showing some resemblance. This was serious fun though 😀
