I started work on the final drawing by taking the initial sketch I made on procreate and refining it. I added some of the things listed on my mind map in a design on the skirt, cameras, cups and pencils representing photography, coffee and illustration. I drew a Nintendo switch in her hand (using my own as reference). 

The above image shows my initial line art – I tried out another textured brush to try and make the illustration seem more tattoo-like however it looked blotchy and unrefined. I decided to work with the studio pen instead – which is a smoother more precise brush. I’m glad I did this because other wise I would have lost so much detail.

I took these screen caps to illustrate how I shaded the hair (I also used the same method for the skin and blush). To start I filled in the hair black and then drew big spaces of white on another layer on top. I then use a Gaussian blur to blend the white out, and an eraser to clean up what has blurred out of the lines. I then altered the opacity a little to blend it in before making a new layer. On the new layer I select the studio pen and draw the long black lines that indicate the direction of the hair. This was the main tattoo inspired feature (besides the actual tattoos) and was inspired by traditional tattoos – particularly the ‘lady head’ and ‘gypsy head’ tattoo designs. 

In the images about I am showing how I redrew the eyes. As the drawing was progressing I was more and more unhappy with how the eyes were looking. She looked far too unimpressed/judgy for a greetings card! I gave her a softer expression and also lowered the angle of the eyebrows. I think this helped the drawing a lot, she looks far more friendly. I also added my nose piercing in at this point! The green background was a layer underneath that helps me see any areas that need erasing. I decided on a pink dress because not only do I love pink and have a lot of pink clothes, one of my favourite colour combinations is pink and red. I already knew the tattoos would be the same colour as the lipstick (traditional tattoo’s feature a lot of red) – so I knew I wanted to get some pink in there. 

This is the point I realised the top of the dress looked too empty – after I had filled in the tattoos and lined the dress pattern it just looked so bland. I played around with a couple of ideas before settling on this peter pan style collar and buttons. I used a very light blue to shade in the details to match the blue/green of the switch. I am really glad I did this as I think it helps tie everything together. Before the switch was the only part of the drawing with these colours. At this point I had also added some text in the top left corner just as an example – I was trying to keep in mind that this way a greetings card as I was working. I needed to think about the greeting and text placement.

I decided on the phrase ‘Just Wanted to say Hello’ as my greeting on the card. I looked through some traditional greeting cards and one that were just to say ‘hello’. I liked this one because it does feel like the character is introducing herself. I’m also very glad I didn’t go with the idea of placing all my hobbies around me as it would have become cluttered and it wouldn’t have been a clear greeting. This way everything is tied into the character – the more time to take to look the more you learn about me. I was also still playing around the fonts at this stage. After trying a few I thought I had decided on this comic book style font. I did end up changing my mind, it did feel unrefined and a little bit tacky. This is when I also finished the tattoos on the arm so I will explain what they are and what they mean.

The Rose and ‘2016’;
Rose is my daughters middle name and she was born in 2016 – this  tattoo represents her. Being a mum is such a big part of my life I wanted to reference it without it being the focus of the image – this is to introduce me after all!  

Heart;
The Heart is a play on the traditional ‘MOM’ tattoo, it represents family.

Dagger:
The Dagger is there to represent my love of horror and true crime. The design of the dagger is also a nod to traditional tattooing – this type of design (made to look like it is going through the skin) is prevalent in traditional and neo-traditional tattoos.

Paw Prints;
There are two paw prints to represent my two dogs!

Stars;
There is one star to represent each year me and my husband have been together – 8 in total.

Final Piece

Here is the finished piece. I ended up using a cleaner more modern font, as the illustration is already quite ‘cartoon-y’ I didn’t want it to look unprofessional. I prefer the font, it is clear and definitley makes the illustration look more refined. For the background I actually used a preset procreate brush called ‘Bokeh’ – it is supposed to be used to create the effect of bokeh lights but I think using it in a light colour on a white background created a confetti effect. I used the same colour as the dress.

Over all I am very happy with the way my greetings card turned out. I think if I had spent a little more time on the planning it could have helped me be a little more time efficient, especially when I had to redraw the top of the dress and add more tattoos. That being said I am still happy with the way it turned out and I did stick to my original plan. I’m surprised how tricky it was to try and draw something based on myself actually! How do you try and represent yourself in a greetings card? I have really enjoyed working on this assignment and I’m glad that I chose to work on Procreate. It definitely gave me the ability to experiment and to make changes in ways I wouldn’t have been able to do with a traditional media (changing the eyes for example). 

Here is my card printed. I really need a printer for my illustration work because mine did not like printing this at all! I am looking forward to getting stuck into to Illustration One after part one. I have bought a personal sketchbook as well as the one I use for coursework to keep me sketching and practising. I am also planning some gallery visits as part of my research for the course.