Lately, I've been inspired by cute little houses that blend in naturally with their environment, such as cozy cottages, breezy beach houses, and longing lodges. Exploring and sketching these houses opens up a whole new world to illustrate and is a way to expand my portfolio to include more than landscapes and animals. I still managed to maintain my organic, bubbly art style while experimenting with sharp edges. lines, and shapes.
My first idea was a cozy overgrown cabin that is nestled in the woods and almost camoflauges into the environment.
I wanted to include little critters like squirrels and frogs as well as squeeze in as much foliage as i could before
it got to busy. The house itself is similar to an A-frame, but it retains a unique shape. This "A" shape mimicks the
shape of the pine trees which makes the house blend in with its surroundings. Originally this house was going to be a
full illustration, but as it was my first one I decided a spot illustration will be easier with less commitment and this could become a series if I so desired.
My second idea was between a beach and a lake house, but since the forest house included a pond and was based off of a coniferous forest, I went with the beach house. Maybe I'll return to the lake house idea later down the road with new, fresh ideas. This house was a lot of fun to sketch out
with all the little crabs, seagulls, and shells scattered about, as well as the diverse foliage that brings this beach to life. I wanted this house to feel nestled in
a small, unknown beach that has maintained its biodiversity and "untouched" landscape. There are so many plant species that call the beach their home that don't get
represented enough and get left out for a "clean" sparkly beach.
When picking the colors for the forest house, I knew I wanted it to be a majority green with the foliage, grass, and leaves, with a few handfuls of grays and browns to break it up.
I wasn't sure what color the house would be; I flip-flopped between a dark green, purple, yellow, or brown, like a traditional lodge. I ended up with a
darker green paint for the house with brown trims and a light brown roof. This kept the earthy, overgrown vibe, and the brown trim broke up the green in the house
with the foliage. I decided to omit the sky that will be seen in the beach house, which is almost tradition in my spot illustration. Instead, I wanted to leave it empty
so the viewer's imagination can interpret the scene however they want (and I couldn't get a good shape for the sky without it looking wonky).
Similarly to the forest house, I wanted the beach house to be in harmony with the environment and maintain the warm tones of the sand and the cool tones of the bright blue sky and water.
The space would be divided by the green foliage and the brown railing/trimming to keep the contrasting colors separate and prevent confusion. I was stuck between a blue house and
an orange roof or door, or an orange house with a blue steel roof or door. Ultimately, the former looked far more cohesive, and the blue-colored house fit the ocean setting a lot better. Instead of white, I used orange to complement the sand and bring it to the house and throughout
the composition. Lastly, unlike the forest house, I included the sky because, besides the vast sand plains and dunes and the vast deep water, the bright infinite sky is a huge and important detail
in any beach scene. It also helped that the shape of the illustration allowed for a circular backdrop that allowed me to illustrate the sky and water at the same time.
The rendering process was very straight-forward with the forest house, as rendering grass, trees, and foliage is my bread and butter. They are all shaded similarly,
but I lowered the opacity of the trees in the background to make the house pop against the dense foliage. The rocks have a light coat of green covering them to mimic moss and lichen, which adds to the
old, overgrown look I was going for. I mimicked my technique with grass and leaves on the roof to give it an almost thatched look as opposed to a tiled or shingled look.
The house itself was shaded with large swaths of shadow with hints of layered siding, so the walls didn't fall flat with the detailed roof and setting. I left the
lights on to give the house a warm, weloming vibe, as if this is a safe haven in the deep, dark forest.
The beach house's rendering was a little more complex than the forest house, as it had sky, water, sand, and loads more critters and flowers to shade and render. Like most of my
illustrations, I started with the foliage so I could get a feel for the lighting and color tone of the piece. I shifted some plants to be warmer while others were cooler to get some variance in
species. Like the rocks in the forest house, I used a similar technique, but with oranges and browns as opposed to greens. This gave the rocks a sunkissed touch and added variety
to differentiate the boulders from the foundation of the house. The sand went through a few changes as I struggled to find a balance between the yellows, browns, and oranges
within the grains, but I ultimately settled on the hue as shown in the final illustration. The house itself was rendered using the same technique as the forest house, with the
striped wooden beams, layered siding, with the only difference being a shingled roof as opposed to a thatched roof. Laslty, the water was rendered using darker layers for a
slight shadow and a stark white for highlights and seafoam. This is by far my favorite water that I've rendered in a while, and I will be continuing this technique in illustrations down the line.
Overall, these were really fun to make, and I had a lot of joy coming up with two different houses in two different settings. It was an "experiement" of color, shape, and contrast between the organic, natural world and the man-made, constructed world. Moving forward, I want to take what I learned with this project and illustrate even more houses, and maybe try some new house shapes and settings.
