I had such a great experience working with @keeperofthewoods when creating our amazing Zelda: Breath of the Wild illustration that we both agreed to give it another go. I threw out the idea of Harry Potter because I knew how much she loves the series, just like I am a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda. When brainstorming ideas for the collaboration, the first idea that came to my mind was the iconic scene of Harry riding Buckbeak across the lake with Hogwarts in the background.
The Wireframe
I've drawn quite a few dragons in my day, but this is the first time I've ever illustrated a hippogriff. I used more than one cover of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban novels, as well as the DVD case, in order to familiarize myself with the mythical creature. I wanted to give the extra touch of having either Harry or Buckbeak touch the water and create a nice splash. If Harry did it, I guess the resistance of the water would knock him off so I decided to go with Buckbeak.
The Sketch
I hope I don't get flamed by die hard fans of the series for my rendition of the Boy Who Lived. I simply drew him in my style, complete with big round glasses and everything. His hair would be flowing back by the wind, revealing his famous lightning bolt scar on his forehead. I thought it important that Harry be wearing his school uniform to complete the look. Without the series logo stamped on the corner of the image, I wanted it to be very obvious who this was.
The Line Art
This illustration is 20" x 15" in size, at 600 dpi resolution. That comes to a total of 12,000 x 9,000 pixels in dimension. When drawing my line art in Clip Studio Paint, I used the standard G-Pen at the size of 40. It still came out a little too thick, but that's actually quite normal for me. I guess I should also mention that I was using a Wacom Mobiestudio Pro 16 when drawing this. It's quite nice to be able to draw right on the screen with 4K resolution.
The Flat Colors
When it comes to collaborating with @keeperofthewoods you might ask yourself, what part did she contribute to? Did she color your line art? No, I applied the colors myself. If you haven't noticed, I left the background completely empty. This is because my partner is a photomanipulator and she created the most amazing scenic background for this piece that captured exactly what I had in my mind's eye. After I finished applying the color, shading, and highlights to Harry and Buckbeak, it was time to put it all together.
The Finished Illustration
For me, it's a toss up between the characters and the background when it comes to "what part of the illustration is my favorite". They both looked so good individually, but when put together the end result is just something else. I love how she was able to make the Hogwarts castle, mountains, sky, and lake look like a watercolor painting. Honestly, this helps match it to my illustration better than if it was a photo-realistic scenery. I matched my colors to her image, using pinks and oranges because of the sunset.
The Animated GIF
I've seen many other artists put together an animated GIF of their process so I decided to do the same. If you like it, please let me know. I will determine if I do this for all my posts moving forward based on your feedback. I am really excited about working with @keeperofthewoods. So far in two weeks we have pumped out two amazing works of art. And this is only the beginning of the year. I am looking forward to many more amazing collaborations with such an amazing person!
