Journey

The road had been harsh and winding, but as the morning sun washes over her, a brief moment of reprieve was gratefully accepted.

Reflective surfaces are always great to use in illustration - simply by virtue of how much additional detail and information they can convey about the scene. It elegantly brings a sense of realism without having to add very fine details. In this case, the challenge was to depict waves washing over a rocky beach on a cold morning. Rather than drawing countless waves to indicate the presence of water, I decided to try a simpler method. By allowing much of the beach to be highly reflective, only broken up by small mounds of sand and stone, it creates a wet feeling quickly. In terms of color, it was fun to experiment with various character and environment palettes, but I settled on a muted color blend with a single strong highlight in red. For wide shots like this, it can be difficult to find the right solution to make the scene interesting, so I had opted for a more direct option!