I will draw two illustrations, one in black and white and one in color.
I will take inspiration from John Minton’s Jamaican Scene to draw a tropical island. It will be a night scene. I will use hatching for the clouds, in order to give a more greyish color, and for the sea. This will be something new for me, as I never use ink hatching for the sky, so i look forward for the result. My visual goal is to create an approaching storm and windy weather.
So the first thing I will do is to sketch down the scene. Like many pencillers, I use an “X” to mark areas that need to be filled in black. I will also write down some notes as reminders. I will not go in details with pencils as much of the scene will be filled in black.
I framed the image a little higher to have more space for the sky. I then started inking the contours of the palm trees and the clouds, leaving the sky for last.
I started working on the details for the trees and the vegetation on the beach. I use white strokes to define the tree trunks and the highlights.
This has been a lengthy but very enjoyable process. I then inked the sky and used small white dots to create the stars.
The final layout.
Key Steps in Illustration 