This is one of the personal projects that I have been plugging away at when I have spare time. A children book that uses a unicorn as a foil for promoting personal individualism and value. Also, it’s an opportunity for me to explore an approach to visualizing an idea, and constructing a simple an effective story. I have written the story, and I have done several review edits throughout. To flush out the story, I estimate that it will require another 32 illustrations. Definitely, NOT going to happen overnight. The hope is that it will be picked up by a publisher, providing me the support to invest at least 6 months of time to complete the other illustrations.
[singlepic id=13 w=320 h=240 float=left]This is the image I did for the cover of the book, Jerome the Unicorn, Another Ordinary Day. I wanted to take the unicorn idea outside the typical presentation style, as a immaculate horned horse, and present it as a stuffed doll. This softens the presentation, and gives it a friendlier face. I did the illustration in Painter 12 on a Cintiq 24HD tablet (all digital). This illustration is at an initial “close to completion” state, and I may adjust it further so that it works with an added title. The style was influenced by a number of sources, but overall it is a revision of the William Morris tapestries featuring unicorns. Then I added elements to the foreground, creating the stage like sensibility.