Illustration Twelve

At the end of the story the author writes "My tale is done, there runs a mouse, whosoever catches it, may make himself a big fur cap out of it." and I just thought that would be nice little illustration to finish on.

I went to a pet shop and see some rodents there which I took inspiration from to sketch these.

I picked the image where it looked like the mouse was running away which was this one and I really like this drawing.

I printed the mouse and scanned it into Photoshop and changed the contrast and levels.

After cleaning up the edges of the mouse image I placed it in the bottom right corner where it looks like it's running away. I really like this illustration, I am very pleased with how the fur has turned out on it and I really like the texture of the tail also.  

(background is not meant to be grey, blogger annoying changed it from white and I don't know why, sorry.)

Illustration Eleven

The next part of the story I wanted to illustrate is where Hansel and Gretel go home to their father and he greets them and they hand him the jewels and gems. Just like the second and third illustrations I wanted to make this into two separate illustrations that will work as one. 

I started by drawing out some small sketches of children standing up.

I then chose the two which I thought would work best in the illustration. 

I then added the clothing to the figures. I didn't like the way Gretels arms were in the previous image so I kept the stance and changed the arms a little so that they were facing down instead of folded.

I next printed the images and I think they worked out really well. 

After editing them on Photoshop I positioned the two figures how I wanted them to look and then added a floor texture underneath them, as you can see in the image below.

This is how the final image will look. It will be on the right hand side page in the left bottom corner and it will interact with the next image I will create which will be of their Father.

I started out by drawing a man in different positions. I started with standing positions but I thought that this would look intimidating so I changed my idea so that the Father would be knelt down in front of the children and I think this will give a more comforting feel to the image.

I decided to chose a side view image with an extended arm suggesting he is reaching out for the jewels and gems off of the children when they return home.

I printed the image and you can see that I have put the man in working clothes as the Father in the story is a woodcutter.

In the story this scene is set in the house of the Father and children but I didn't want to take the attention away from the characters in this one by drawing a full house so I drew out a small section of a brick wall and placed it behind the man as you can see in the image below.

I really like how these two images turned out and I think they work together very well.

Illustration Ten

The next part of the story I illustrated was where Hansel and Gretel travel across the river on the back of a duck. 

I started by sketching some ducks when I went on a day trip to Sunderland park and I tried to get images from the side mostly because thats how I wanted to position the duck in my illustration. 

I chose to use this position of the duck because I think it will be good for how I want to put Hansel on top of it.

When I took my niece and nephew to the park I sketched a few images of when they were on the toys and I think I got some good drawings I could possibly use.

For Hansel on top of the duck I thought the drawing of when my nephew was on the rocking horse would be perfect because it looks like he is sitting on the back of something.

I then printed the images I chose and I think they turned out really well.

I then scanned the images into Photoshop and changed the contrast and levels just like the rest of the previous images.

I was relieved that the duck and Hansel figure fitted well together when I scanned them in Photoshop because I had a feeling that they wouldn't go right together but fortunately they did. I added more trees to the outside edges using the ink blown images and also added a texture that looks like water to the bottom of the image. I am really pleased with this because I think everything works really well together and it is not too overwhelming.  

Illustration Nine

The next image I decided to illustrate is where the witch gets thrown into the oven. Now, for this image I had a lot of difficulty thinking of how I wanted to go about it. I thought about drawing an old fashioned oven and being able to see the witch burn through the window but I just thought it would be too much and that this image needed to be straight to the point and quite graphic. Then I remembered a scene from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and get a lot of inspiration from the scene below. 

The first sketch I did was of an old fashioned oven but I decided not to go down that route so I ended up drawing the witch with her arms up in a frightened state.

This was the print I made form the sketch and I missed out the body because I wanted the flames I am later going to do engulf the body so that only the head and arms are to be seen.

For the flames I used black ink and water to make marks which resembled fire. I am really happy with how these have turned out and they look like how I was expecting.

This is the final image and I think it has worked very well. This is one of my favourite illustrations I've done so far. I used the flames I created with the ink with different opacities and I think they give a really good effect.l I also used the border from the previous images around this and I think it all works together perfectly. 

Illustration Eight

The next image is where Hansel is locked in the cage in the witches house.

I started off by sketching different sitting positions of Hansel.

I chose the one which I think looked best. I liked this one because it kind of looks like he is squashed into a small space which is what I imagine being a cage would be like.

Next I added the clothes etc. to the character.

I then printed the image and I think it worked really well.

Next I put the image into Photoshop and changed the contrast and level so the image was black and white.

In the story it states that Hansel hands the witch a bone so that she thinks he isn't getting fat from all of the food she is feeding him therefore I printed a bone too just to add into the cage with Hansel.

This is the complete image in a vignette style. For the front of the cage i just copied one side of the border over again and made a grid out of it. I really like this one. Even though it doesn't really look like he is in a cage I think the grate and the figure style works as a whole and you get the idea.

Illustration Seven

The next part of the story I wanted to illustrate was where the witch (old woman) invited Hansel and Gretel into her home, insisting no harm will come to them. I wasn't looking forward to creating this image because I wasn't sure on how I wanted to compose it because I wanted a lot of elements in it such as 3 characters, background trees and the witches house. However, I did over come the problem I was having a created a pretty good image which I really like.

I started out by sketching some positions of Hansel and Gretel. I wanted the image of them to look like Gretel was scared of the witch and Hansel was trying to usher his sister to the old womanshouse.

These are the two positions I chose and I think they work really well.

I made Hansel look like he was showing Gretel that the old woman is a nice person and just wants to help them and that is why his arms are pointing outwards and I think it really works.

I made Gretel look like she is tugging on Hansels shirt, almost like saying she is scared to go with the old woman.

I next started to think about the position of the witch. I knew I wanted her crouched over with a stick but I wasnt sure if I wanted her from the front or the side.

I decided the side view of the witch would be the best to use and I redrew it and added the clothes to her.

I then scanned the prints into Photoshop and arranged them into the position I wanted them in. I think they positions work really well and the characters look like how i planned which I was relieved with.

I next started thinking about how I wanted the witches house to look. I didn't want to go down the traditional route and go all out on the candy house so I just added a few little things to the house like an icing roof which I made look like it was melting just for effectiveness and some lollies around the bottom of the house.

I printed the house and I really like how it turned out. I like the texture of the foot path coming from the house and the effect of the roof.

I next assembled all of the elements of the image together and added ink blown trees and a texture to the floor. I really like how this one has turned considering I was very sceptical at the beginning. I also added the border from the previous images and I think it sets it off really well.