Drawing is a passion of mine, mythical creatures even more so. So I had the idea to mix both of them together to create this project. My goal was to draw different fairies, all different sizes and colors, and have them placed around the house but not look out of place. My major inspiration is a movie by Studio Ghibli, The Secret World of Arrietty, an animated movie about tiny people living in the walls of houses. They are not fairies, but that is what it reminded me of. I recommend it to anyone who is interested.
The first step was sketching out the fairies, getting a general idea of how they were going to be posed, and it was at this stage that I was thinking of places to put them. I knew one was going to be in the kitchen, as one of my favorite parts of the movie took place there. The goal was not to make them look human; I wanted them to look out of this world with webbed fingers, wings, and black eyes. Of course not all of them were like that, a few were designed with human-like features, which blended better with the background.
After the initial sketch was complete and I knew where everything was going, I measured out the area in which they would sit to see if they would be too tall or looked out of place. This was an easy feat, as all I did was make sure they fit properly. Some were too tall and others were good enough to use. Following that, the final sketches were made which were to be placed on to thicker paper then cut out.
I transferred the finished drawing over to the thicker paper, which was a posterboard. Originally everything was going to be done on regular paper and then glued, but it would be too obvious and I didn’t want to chance it. After transferring the drawing, they were inked and then colored, that left cutting them out and posing them.
Going around the house and posing them wasn’t an issue, but the lighting was. Many households have yellow lighting, which is just a result of non-LED light bulbs, which was my issue. To fix this, I turned off all the lights and used both a lighting tripod (with an LED light bulb) and a flashlight for extra lighting when necessary. This allowed me to have control over the amount and color of the lighting, as I could place colored plastic in front of the light and it would project that color.
After taking an absurd amount of photos, I went through them and picked the best ones. After that, they were taken to Photoshop, where I used layers of colors on low opacity (visibility) to create the mood and tint that I wanted. I also touched up on the fairies themselves, smoothing out hard lines where the edges were visible and places where the light showed under colored areas. And after a few late nights and an unspeakable amount of coffee, I had a set of pictures I am proud of.
As a given (so I don’t have to repeat it every time), I smoothed out the characters’ lines and defined their eyes and clothes.
Bismuth
Starting off strong with one of my favorite fairies, Bismuth is a multi-colored fairy with spotted skin, webbed fingers, and a very colorful outfit.
The first set of photos are the same photos with different lighting, I wanted to have one with a green tone, simulating a nature type scene, and another with a more alien type of feel.
For the first photo, I started with taking the original photo and cleaning up the edges of the character and smoothing out the colors. After that, I darkened the edges with a layer of black on low opacity and then lightened a few areas where there was light with the dodge tool which lightened the colors.
This photo followed the same process of the first, with touch-ups and adding a tone. However, on this one, I focused more on adding light to the center of the photo rather than on the area around. I darkened the corners and added a blue tint to the area surrounding Bismuth.
For the second set of photos, the scene is set in the kitchen, with jars of coffee, tea, and sugar in the background.
For this photo, in the foreground is a wooden spoon and flowers. The photos were taken and then edited by adjusting the lighting. I lightened the flakes of plastic (used to mimic sugar) to give a glowing effect as I thought it made things look more magical.
The fourth photo is the same idea as the first, with the setting being in the kitchen. This time the flowers are missing and the surrounding area is lighter. The flakes are lightened, but that is about all I did for this photo.
Dom
The second fairy is named Dom; she is purple with pointed ears. I intended her to be taller than most of the others and to have more of a mysterious vibe.
The first photo is a scene in the kitchen, much like with Bismuth. There is also a pile of ‘sugar’ on the ground which has a slight glow. The only edits I made to this photo were touch-ups to the figure and the glowing effects. The rest was done by angling a flashlight to have the corners be darker.
The second photo is one that was taken in a tree. Dom is peeking out from behind a part of the tree. This photo has a lot more editing done to it than the first. Other than the given, I added a layer of yellow, orange, and purple above the photo and lowered the opacity, which gave everything below it that tint.
Dot
Dot is a fairy with yellow skin and hair. Her hands are webbed and her eyes are completely black. For this fairy, my idea was to have a bug like character who uses camouflage to hide in the shadows. Dot only has one photo as it was hard to position her in unique ways.
The picture is of plants in a pot. Dot is hiding behind some of the leaves. For this photo, I blurred out the areas surrounding her figure and left her as the focus, lightening some areas and giving her a believable shadow- other than that a layer of blue and green was placed over the photo to have the colors agree more.
Eli
Eli is a human-like fairy; one of the few I designed to look that way. The only feature that differs is the small pointed ears. His outfit consists mainly of blue and purple, and he was designed to be mainly outside. The pose I made was that of him doing a handstand, as I thought of him as a playful and mischievous character.
The first is a scene of a lamppost. Eli is on the top doing a handstand. In the background, bubbles are floating around. My idea for this was an evening scene with darker colors and more of a silhouette than a distinguishable figure. I achieved this by adding a blue layer over the entire piece and then lightening the bubbles and the fairy with the dodge tool. After that I lightly darkened the edges.
The second photo is a nature scene composed of a log with greenery and stones on the top, fake diamonds, and silver shavings are placed in the foreground. This photo is mostly natural with a layer of green over the top and light touch ups. The only thing different about this one is that I copied one side of the moss and placed it on the other side to make it look more lush.
Katch
The fifth fairy is named Katch, I designed him to be pouty and bright. I wanted him to also look mischievous and playful, which I think I achieved. The second and last character I designed to have a human like skin tone. His photos were shot outside and near to plants and nature, as I thought of him as the adventurous-type.
The first photo is of Katch resting on a tree. I shot this photo close to dusk, which is why not a lot of darkening was needed. The edits I made were a layer of blue, green, yellow, and purple all mixed to get a rainbow like effect. There are a few bubbles in the background, but as it was in a tree and the bubbles kept popping. I strung lights in the tree. It may not seem like it, but they were lit, however, it was not dark enough for them to show. But I couldn’t wait too long. If I had waited any longer, it would have been too dark to see Katch in the lighting that I wanted. So I imitated this by lightning the area around the lights to simulate a glowing effect. I used the dodge tool to do this. I also used the spatter brush in Photoshop to add the white dots around the photo.
The second photo is of Katch in the same pot that Dot was in earlier. He is setting on the plants, and my idea was that he lost a game of hide and seek and was pouting in the flowerpot. For this photo, I didn’t do too many edits. The few I did were layers of green, blue, and yellow to tint the area and a white splatter effect to the edges achieved with the spatter brush.
For the third photo, Katch is sitting underneath a tree, the light coming down from the left. I wanted it to be dazzling and vibrant. I especially wanted the fall colors to show more than anything else. The only edits I made to this one was using layers of yellow, green, orange, and hints of purple to tint the image.
Laie
For Laie, I really wanted an elegant fairy full of nature and bright colors. When I thought her up, I wanted to have her surrounded by plants and flowers. As it was fall, fake flowers had to do. For her image, I made her with green skin and hair, really pulling on the natural vibe. I have her wearing a black long sleeve dress and a red cape. The cape, I imagined, was to blend into the fall leaves. I originally made her with two poses, but after careful consideration I decided only to use one.
For her first image, it is very dark, surrounded by greenery, and there is light coming from the front. I did this by first turning off all the lights and anything that would reflect or cause light. I then used a flashlight with LED’s having the light point be in front. Using the dodge tool on the foliage and the image is complete.
The second photo is similar to the first photo, this time using more colors and more fake flowers. This time I wanted the light to look like it is coming more from the ground than in front. I did the same thing for this photo as I had done the previous with the dodge tool.
In the third photo, Laie is more visible. It is a nature scene, one of the first photos that I took. It is on a log with moss and plants for this one. I really wanted the color to be more subdued and for the primary focus to be on Laie. To achieve this look, I added a layer with brown, orange, and green above the photo to add the tint to the photo. After that, I added the splatter effects to the bottom edge.
Shain
For Shain, my main inspiration was the idea that some fairies hide from the human eye by using capes with prints of bugs as camouflage. With that, I came up with a design. It doesn’t really follow the idea as closely as I wanted, but I am thrilled with the result. Shane is a fairy with blue skin and a mainly blue outfit. His cape is a royal blue with a darker blue around the edge and a dot near the bottom. Originally, he had three photos, but I decided that the third was too similar to the second one, so it was opted out.
For the first photo of Shain he is holding on to the edge of the log from the previous photos. He is swinging above the water and I wanted the background composition to be very monochrome, with just Shain having the most color. To achieve this, I used layer masks to select everything but him and then added the layers of brown, blue, and orange. After that I used layers of blue, yellow and red for his figure.
The second photo is of the flowerpot, Shain is holding on to one of the plant stems. For this photo I wanted to show off the size of the fairy. Measurement wise he is about 8 inches tall, I wanted him to be taller than most of the other fairies, but shorter than Dom (who is about 10 inches full scale). I didn’t edit the photo other than the character smoothing and editing.
Slaie
Slaie is a fairy I did not account for originally. It was another Katch pose, but I made a mistake and turned it into another character. This gave me Slaie who is in my mind a pumpkin/fall fairy who is very ingenuitive and adventurous. I gave him a utility belt and cargo pants (hand sewn). He has a pumpkin for a head.
Slaie’s first photo is in a tree. In my mind, he climbed it to scour the area. I used layers of yellow, green, purple, red, and blue to create a rainbow of color and a clipping mask to avoid getting it on the character.
His second photo is a silhouette, using a vase of fake flowers and a flashlight. I could cast a shadow onto the wall that accurately shows the figure. The only editing I did was the touch-ups and then a little of black along the bottom edge to darken the shadow. The inspiration for this comes from a scene in The Secret World of Arrietty, where the main character Arrietty is caught and discovered by her shadow casting onto the wall.