Endpapers Process (#10)
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Back in late December, I received the opportunity to design the endpapers for IndieBites’ 5-year Anniversary hardcover edition. After almost dropping my coffee and having imposter syndrome, I agreed to have the fully colored, double page spread by mid-February. I was SO excited and couldn’t believe how far away the deadline was. So much time to explore and experiment right??
Wrong.
Little did I know that in January, I’d be getting a nice dose of the flu and almost a month of laying in bed while breathing through one nostril.
Once recovered, I got to work. The commission was to create a full image with scenes from various fantasy short stories that are featured in the special edition. Josie and Adie graciously gave me generalizations of some of them, which was super helpful! Then, based off of the summary sentences, I started rough compositions (using good ol blobs at first), fitting about 6 vignettes on the pages.
One of the toughest ideas I got stuck on was the vampires in the masquerade (not QUITE the rpg). Compared to the other vignettes, this one required more characters to fit in a small area. The challenge was making sure the characters weren’t too detailed and therefore, not too noticeable to take away from looking at the other vignettes. I also tried to remedy this by indicating with a minimal palette.
Getting to line work, I tackled the most difficult first (imo): the arched window of the Crystal Palace. The narrative is meant to be a dragon on top of the Crystal Palace.
The building was so beautiful, yet so complicated that I made sure to include the exact number of panes on the window. Unfortunately I didn’t include the flag pole because I didn’t want it to distract from the dragon.
Before coloring, I blocked in shapes and went over with a shading pass to define forms. The final touch was to go over with a color layer, and then build MORE color and fx (fire, glow, glitter, magic, etc.)!!
Despite a rocky start to the new year, I'm beyond grateful I got the chance to work with IndieBites, after such a wonderful experience back in 2024! I had so much fun with it that I added some bts blurbs to show my chaotic thoughts.
Until then, I'm inspired to get started on the next project (chugs electrolytes)
Happy Hydrating!
Comments