The title page was one of the first I inked. It was originally part of a 3-page intro. As I wrote the 1st chapter the intro seemed more and more redundant, so I did away with it. The third page became the basis for the title page. I say 'basis' because of all the changes I had to make to turn it into a title page. Siloen originally had straight hair. I inked a curly replacement, and composited the images with photoshop (still not completely happy with it). I then trimmed the image from 'landscape' to 'portrait, added an oval frame, chopped, redistributed and colored the leaves, redrew her hand and added the watch... Maybe I should have started from scratch after all.
The image as it was originally drawn held all my feelings for the character. She was captured in the act of turning, like a startled woodland creature. Her hair blew everywhere. Originally she had straight hair, because I felt she had a painfully straightforward personality, but it seemed too plain. So she has wavy/curly hair now but still the skittish personality of a Siamese cat.
The foliage that makes up the background is hawthorn, a plant steeped in fairy lore. You may have heard it mentioned as 'Oak, Ash and Thorn.' It was believed to mark the entrance to the Otherworld. To this day it is considered ill-luck to uproot a fairy tree or fairy fort. I chose it for other symbolic reasons- the young leaves for growth, the thorns for pain, and the blossoms for fragility
Original concept art.
I was testing colors-
she needed to be green without appearing froggy or slimy.
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