Unifying Hibiscus

Like my last two pieces I began with using my original sketch. Initially the sketch was quite light so I went over the outline with a darker pencil, once it was cleared I scanned it to photoshop. As there are three animals I used three layers, one for each animal so I can work on them individually.

The advantage of working in photoshop is that I was able to re-do the outlines as many times as I wanted without being left with messy sketch lines. In my original sketch there were lines separating the animals however I realized these lines were crooked. Thus I created new lines, yet instead of using black lines I used colored lines. My intention was to created boundaries with colors rather than lines (trying to stay true to my reference artist Frida Kahlo, as she used colors to make boundaries).

After completing the outline I had three more layers added for the colors. In the beginning I wasn't sure what color scheme I was going to use but because this was all about unity I decided on using primary colors which happen to be the colors of the Malaysian Flag. It worked well because with three colors there are three animals. 

I chose not to use the black lines as my outline for the animals, instead I chose to play around with positive and negative spaces. I colored in the animals and the environments but leave spaces along the lines. At times it would be difficult because my hand was not always steady and so the color would slip into the spaces. I used the eraser tool to solve this issue. 

To choose the right primary colors, I based it on the first color. I worked on Red and so after using red I used the color picker and moved the arrows along the color spectrum to find the next primary color. (This is so the brightness of the color would be similar to one another).

After adding all the necessary colors, I would flip through the layers to clean up the piece. I would hide layers one at a time to focus on each animal, ensuring that the final piece looked complete.

Lines and Color > Unity and Balance

Sense of Repetition: Hornbill, Elephant and Tiger

The use of the hibiscus in each piece. 

Three exotic animals for three Malaysian cultures. They are not defined, even though each culture is different they are unified.