Initial drawings of Call of the Wild

This drawing is inspired from the quote in the book “this white stuff falling through the air... sniffed it curiously... licked some on his tongue... it was his first snow”. I wanted the background to be simple but bright because this is one of few happy memories for Buck in the book. I used a watercolour brush on Procreate for the background and on a second layer I drew white dots and blurred them slightly to show that the snow was falling. I drew Buck with bright colours to match how he was feeling. I kept the drawing of Buck quite realistic, however as I progress through this course I will experiment with more abstract ways of drawing Buck and the background. 

Overall, I think that this illustration was successful, however I could improve it by making the background more interesting. I think the warm tones of Buck’s coat and the cool tones of the background are effective but to create a different atmosphere to the drawing I could experiment by drawing Buck with cool tones or the background with warm tones. 

This drawing is inspired by the quote “long winter nights... lower valleys... pale moonlight... and glimmering borealis.” I think that night sky in this drawing is effective, however I don’t think this matches with the mountains. This drawing doesn’t match the quote either, it look quite like an alien planet instead of the Alaskan mountains. 

To improve this drawing, I will add trees to the foreground and maybe some greenery on the background too. I also think the moon needs to be just as prominent are the Northern Lights and glimmer.