Fall 2025Procreate
Colored Pencil
InDesign Idurln is a fantasy world inspired by an object, a pair of pistols from late 18th century Scotland, found at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Musem in St. Louis, MO. From my object I built and illustrated a fantastical world with magic, power struggles, and complex characters all researched and rooted in Scottish culture.
The Cover
The Spreads
Each illustration within the book focuses on showing one scene from the lives of three characters from different classes of society.
I chose a vertical format for the book because many of the illustrations whithin focus on characetrs flying or a power struggle. These topics lent themselves to more vertical compositions.
Click on any of the images for a slideshow of the book!
The Process
Intially, I thought the pistol looked like someone riding a floating motorcycle and I was awed by its intricate carvings.
From this Idurln was born: a fae and human world with a steam-punk-like aesthetic whose inhabitants rely on machines powered by magic through the engravement of fae and Celtic symbols into precious metals.
Researched references:
-Late 18th, early 19th century Scottish fashion (kilts became prominent around this time)
Initial sketches and thumbnails After iterating on my three characters, I was satisfied with their design, however, the first character I drew, Eilidh, felt more cartoony than the others. I redrew her with more realistic proportions to match. My first iteration of Eilidh working on her bike felt too cold, and lacked character. The second iteration was warmer but still missed something.
I experimented by printing out the flat colors of my illustration and adding details with colored pencils. I loved the texture this achieved and was pleasantly surprised by the effect of the slight gradation in hues taht the printing process created.
I really enjoyed working in this combined analog and digital way and worked like this for the illustrations in this project.
Based on feedback, there were a few awkward areas in this image: some protests figures felt starngely posed, and the spatial logic of the fae inside the building was off. I reworked these areas for the final image. After completing the illustration of the Beltain clebration, I realized that the high contrast details in the background were distracting from the real focus. I decreased the contrast and detail in the cliffs and clouds and repositioned the male student character to clarify the image.