I began by opening up paint tool SAI, going to file, and creating a new document. I selected the default A4 size at 350dpi, to be safe with the resolution and for the option of shrinking or cropping later on for better quality.. The final size of the document was 410 mm by 297 mm (2893.5px by 4092.5px) at 350 dpi. I will now use this template document for each poster.

Next I simply copied and pasted the original scan for the sketch I would be using for this particular poster. I had to stretch this quite a bit to fit the canvas, as the original sketch was tiny. Quality doesn’t matter though as this is only for guidelines and will be deleted at a later stage.

Following this, I began by plotting out areas of colour with the marker tool. I used the water (9/10) tool to merge areas together in a way that resembles the way watercolours behave on paper. I used the water tool to blur areas together and continued using the marker tool to get more defined areas. I changed the settings for the layer to Texture: water colour A (scale:284, opacity: 27), and Fringe: (width: 10, opacity 100), which further enhanced the watercolour-y feel.

Continued the process of blotting and merging areas, using only my own experience with shadows and light for reference. Not wanting to rely on images too much, as the sketch itself was drawn from looking at various stock images.

I continued the process, also changing the opacity of the original sketch so that I could better see the outline of what I was colouring.

I began using the eraser to define shapes and clean up areas.

I added a yellowish background just to start experimenting- nothing concrete yet. Also starting blotting in the general hair colours and shadows with the marker tool and merging these as explained previously. The hair was done on a new later, with which I also applied the water colour settings but changed slightly to accompany what looked best with the texture of hair and colour.

With the acrylic tool, with a dark brown, I starting making swift sweeps in the direction of the hair, this resembles a fineliner or thin point of sorts and helps to give the hair flow and texture. I also used the water (9/10) tool to drag out areas of hair creating wisps. Which I also went over with the acrylic tool, making the strands furthermore delicate and flowing.

Created a new layer for the legs. Started colour in the with marker and water tools as already explained.

I created a new layer underneath. Using the magic want tool, I selected the area outside the clothing area, inverted the selection, and increased the size of this selection incrementally, before colouring this into a darker colour and placing it beneath a layer mask. This created an outline for the material. I also erased part of the hair so that it lay more naturally, as well as making it slightly darker.

On a new layer, I painted the leg and feet area. I heavily referenced from actual images of feet for this.

I drew some simple shapes in block colours to represent the trunks of the trees. These were to be used as a mask (so that colouring never strays), to then paint over.

I created a simple trunk texture by creating strokes in appropriate directions and using layer settings to capture shade and highlights. I ticked ‘Clipping group’ with the layer selected, above the mask, so that colouring would remain inside this area.

Once happy with the texture and coloured, I followed the same process for each of the other trunks.

Started drawing very simple branches. These will only be seen as shapes under the leaves so they do not need to be particularly detailed or realistic.

I created the leaves by using many layers, of many shades of green. I used a lot of different brushes to achieve the texture, as well as the watercolour tool to blur areas together. I added highlights and darker tones to bring out the individual branches. And I made sure to draw them in a way that followed the natural way foliage would fall (To check for this I used references

).

Once all the trees were clustered in, I split these into three layers; The foreground, the mid, and the far view. The foreground trees (closest & largest) had their opacity at 100%, while the mid was a little lower, and the far view at about 70-80%. This creates the illusion of perspective and depth.

I repeated this process for the other trees. Sometimes starting from scratch for each tree, other times duplicating it and making modifications to make it unique.

I merged the coloured together mainly with the watercolour tool. I then used the eraser to cut around the shape in a way that looked the most natural and fitting. Doing this, I referred a lot to the way the ‘ALICE IN WONDERLAND’ poster groundwork was done, from my original research.

I made a new layer and blotted in some colours for the ground area. I also made a layer above this (clipped) with a gradient shade, to make it appear less flat, and to be on a slant, going into the trees.

I saved this as a PNG and added the title from the 70’s font I downloaded (As voted for in my survey) in Microsoft word. Before exporting this once again with the title, as a PNG.

Wanting my poster to have that collage-y feel about it, I wanted to add some flatter elements as though they have just been stuck in from magazine clippings. So for the basket, I used a mix of real textures from photographs and drawings mixed together and skewed.