• Character Design
  • Lifedrawing
    • 2011
    • 2012
    • 2015
  • Demo Reel
  • Resume
  • Blog
  • Bio
Menu

Mirella Toncheva

  • Character Design
  • Lifedrawing
  • Sketchbooks
    • 2011
    • 2012
    • 2015
  • Demo Reel
  • Resume
  • Blog
  • Bio

An Illustrated Book!

September 26, 2015

These past year I have been working on a very special project; I've been illustrating a children's book!  My childhood friend, Ekaterina Petrova, approached me with a story idea late last year and we decided to collaborate.  7 months, 31 illustrations, and 1 cover later, its finished and available for purchase via Amazon!

DSCF1469.jpg
DSCF1472.jpg
DSCF1479.jpg
DSCF1483.jpg
DSCF1486.jpg

The final illustrations are done with pastels but the roughs, layouts, final line-work and final colors are all digital. This was done to save time on the 'pre-production' and allow for flexibility in the images early in the process.  I thought this would make the final step, illustrating with pastels, very tedious but I found the process surprisingly freeing and I was able to have some spontaneity even with thorough plans. I guess it is like performing a dance, a lot of practice goes in but the final performance will still feel fresh because the kinks have been ironed out and we are left to focus on the art of the performance. 

Click on images bellow for some some step-by-step descriptions of the process:

Initial Sketches
Initial Sketches

Initial sketches are made according to the story.  These tend to be extremely rough because you are trying to get the essence of the story the quickest way possible. Clarity is key but no need to be precious! 

Finalized Line-work
Finalized Line-work

After the initial sketches notes are given and the tightening begins. The layout is adjusted, and objects are clarified!

Shading and Lighting
Shading and Lighting

I like roughing out the shading early in the process because it hints at the 3 dimensional space and reminds the illustrator where the lighting is (clear lighting makes controls the way your eye moves around the page)

Rough Color
Rough Color

At this point I gather all the pages in one file (so I can see them all at once) and rough in the colors for the whole book. Blocking in the colors this way lets you control story telling by color!

Finalized Color
Finalized Color

After the colors for every page are blocked out I do detail work and incorporate any notes the client may have had. These colors are referenced and mimicked by the pastels.

Final Illustration
Final Illustration

The line-work, shading edges, and any color notes are transferred to pastel paper via transfer paper and the pasteling begins! There is plenty of change that happens in this step but the basics are all there and the finalized colors are referenced frequently.

Initial Sketches Finalized Line-work Shading and Lighting Rough Color Finalized Color Final Illustration

Also, I made a gif to show the evolution of the last page, I think the changes are fun to see in sequence :)

→
Featured
Untitled12.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled13.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled14.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled15.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled18.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled20.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled21.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled22.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Untitled24.jpg
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012
Happy Valentines friends, May your day be filled with puppies! โœจ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿ’™
Happy Valentines friends, May your day be filled with puppies! โœจ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿ’™
@williambriankrause & I went to this old school โ€˜pick-&-pullโ€™ a few months ago & I was really inspired by the decay & rust. These drawings were made from memory & proved an interesting challenge since I donโ€™t draw cars too often ๐Ÿ˜…
@williambriankrause & I went to this old school โ€˜pick-&-pullโ€™ a few months ago & I was really inspired by the decay & rust. These drawings were made from memory & proved an interesting challenge since I donโ€™t draw cars too often ๐Ÿ˜…
2018 was a really hard year for me, so Iโ€™m celebrating the start of 2019 with a bunch of dog drawings (& one ๐Ÿฑ) hip hip hooray to more art! #characterdesign #drawings #personalwork #sketchbook
2018 was a really hard year for me, so Iโ€™m celebrating the start of 2019 with a bunch of dog drawings (& one ๐Ÿฑ) hip hip hooray to more art! #characterdesign #drawings #personalwork #sketchbook
All the armadillos #characterdesign #sketchbook #personalart
All the armadillos #characterdesign #sketchbook #personalart
Some pretty ladies ๐Ÿ•ถ#characterdesign #sketches #alltheprettyladies #personalwork
Some pretty ladies ๐Ÿ•ถ#characterdesign #sketches #alltheprettyladies #personalwork
@williambriankrause made the couples costume of my dreams happen in less than 12 hrs ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽƒ heโ€™s a keeper ๐Ÿ˜˜ #beetlejuice #halloweencostume
@williambriankrause made the couples costume of my dreams happen in less than 12 hrs ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽƒ heโ€™s a keeper ๐Ÿ˜˜ #beetlejuice #halloweencostume
โ€˜Not all those who wander are lost;โ€™ but real talk... this witch looks really lost! #inktober #inktober2018 quote by JRR Tolkien โ€˜The Lord of the Ringsโ€™ ๐Ÿ”ฅ
โ€˜Not all those who wander are lost;โ€™ but real talk... this witch looks really lost! #inktober #inktober2018 quote by JRR Tolkien โ€˜The Lord of the Ringsโ€™ ๐Ÿ”ฅ
#inktober by the lake #inktober2018
#inktober by the lake #inktober2018
Little Witch riding a cat for #inktober #inktober2018
Little Witch riding a cat for #inktober #inktober2018
A bone-y winter witch for #31witches Letโ€™s give this inktober thing another try ๐Ÿ–Œ๐Ÿ’™ #inktober #inktober2018
A bone-y winter witch for #31witches Letโ€™s give this inktober thing another try ๐Ÿ–Œ๐Ÿ’™ #inktober #inktober2018