In Progress Shots and Finished Image - Compound Word Illustration

During the process of moving along with the final illustration, I took some screenshots to show a bit of my working process. This illustration was fully drawn using PaintTool Sai. 

This first screenshot shows all the flat colors in along with the black line art. This was taken from one of the sketches that I did during the brainstorming phase. I shortened the tail a bit and made the honeycomb pattern a bit smaller and more consistent. 

This second screenshot shows the flat color added to the honeycomb on the back. I made a bit of a gradient to show the different shades of honey. The honeycomb is representing the back stripe often seen on honeybadgers. Yes, I am purposely avoiding the eyes because I could not get them right quite yet. 

This screenshot was taken after shading and highlights have been added in. I use a lot of layers and stack them on each other to get the pictured image. I also added some texture to the image to help give this honeybadger a bit more dimension. At this point, I named this sweet boy Bumble. 

Lastly, I went with a simple background to help showcase Bumble better. I was experimenting with a white silhouette but didn't really like it all that much.  

This here is the final image of my Bumble (the honeybadger). He is a very sweet badger that is very sticky since he is literally dripping with honey. I managed to get the eyes to look better by consulting with my older brother. He suggested changing the left cheek a bit to make a bit of room for the other eye. I also noticed that the highlights weren't appearing on the others. So, here they are. 

Went back and made some background changes to help tie in the final piece. 

After getting feedback from peers, I went back to further change the piece of Bumble. The first noticeable change would be the direction of his tail. I went and flipped it to the right to help with directing the viewer's eyes. This meant that I need to extend the honeycomb pattern on his back to make up for the gap that was left. I also went through to correct the shading that would have been left wrong from the change of direction. I also darkened the shadow under Bumble to lessen the look of him floating within the space. To also help sell a sense of a groud, I added drip piles from the honey that is dripping off from this sweet creature. 

This will be the final version that I print as an 8" x 10" print.