Diary of an illustration commission

I love getting commissions, especially when I have a good connection with the project. This particular project began with a customer at Sennen Market who asked if I could illustrate something for her yoga studio and gave me a sketch of a lady in a bending tree pose for inspiration. I love yoga and the name ‘wild Willow yoga’ and I felt that this would be an exciting thing to work on.

The first thing I did was research yoga studios in the same area to get an idea of the competition. I then researched Willow trees to see if there was a particular animal/insect/flower that was associated and that I could include inthe image.

I found that owls and foxes were associated with a willow trees eco system. They seemed particularly appropriate as an owl is often associated with wisdom and a fox is associated with cunning and adaptability. These creatures also helped to illustrate the wild element in the studio’s name.

I submitted the above images and waited for feedback. I was then guided to change the clothes, make the creatures less dominant and make the whole thing more magical.

The above clothes were considered to be too ordinary and I was asked to put her in a dress. My concern was that this would lose the leg positioning of the yoga pose, but the fantasy element was considered more important by the client. I was sent a few inspiration images to guide me and this led to me including the mountains in the background.

The final image has room for the client to add her own text, which she then can update as needed for different events. It is also saved in layers so there is the potential for the colours to be changed to coincide with the seasons and/or to have different elements added.

It was a great commission to work on and I love the way that the client directed this to get a really magical piece.

If you have a project that you think I would be great for then please get in touch!