East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Kelsey Hamersley. Pencil. March 2013.

“When she awoke in the morning both the Prince and the castle were gone, and she was lying on a small green patch in the midst of a dark, thick wood. By her side lay the self-same bundle of rags which she had brought with her from her own home. So when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she was weary, she set out on her way…”

I posted a study for this sketch earlier…Kind of fun seeing how the composition developed. I changed Lassie’s pose a fair bit and made her smaller—it just helps contribute to the loneliness which is a big part of the mood in this stage of the story. After doing a lot of experimenting with different inks, I’m leaning towards simply doing watercolors for the finals. The ink color I liked best was supposedly waterproof, but would bleed whenever it got wet, so I would have had to put all the watercolor painting in before I got to the pen work. And knowing how easy it is to get drips or mistakes that you can’t take back with pen work…I’d rather save myself the stress! :P

Little (3 3/4”x4”) sketch study for East of the Sun and West of the Moon, by Kelsey Hamersley. Pencil and colored pencil. March 2013.

Quoting the version of the tale on Surlalune Fairy Tales,

When she awoke in the morning both the Prince and the castle were gone, and she was lying on a small green patch in the midst of a dark, thick wood. By her side lay the self-same bundle of rags which she had brought with her from her own home. So when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she was weary, she set out on her way…

By Kelsey Hamersley. Pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor. January 2012.

A color study for East of the Sun and West of the Moon, the part where the bear takes her to visit her family. The proportions aren’t great, nor is her face—I wasn’t really using reference photos—but it’s a start on keying in the composition/style/color scheme I’m going for.

So one Sunday the White Bear came and said now they could set off to see her father and mother. Well, off they started, she sitting on his back; and they went far and long. At last they came to a grand house, and there her brothers and sisters were running about out of doors at play, and everything was so pretty, ‘twas a joy to see.

Quoted from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. I’m working on my own retelling of the fairy tale, something not nearly that flowery. ;)

East of the Sun and West of the Moon by ~bookels

East of the Sun and West of the Moon detail, by Kelsey Hamersley. Acrylic. December 2012.

You can see the full 18”x24” painting on deviantART, where I entered it for the Train Your Brain contest under the illustration category.

By Kelsey Hamersley. Pen & ink and watercolor. October 2012.

I thought I’d take another shot at this study from back in April for East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Having done the rough it was a little easier to see what needed tweaking, but there’s still plenty of room for correction—and, honestly, there are some things from the first that I wish I’d kept in the second. But it’s nice seeing some progress. :)

By Kelsey Hamersley. Graphite. December 2011.

Another study for East of the Sun and West of the Moon.

By Kelsey Hamersley. Pen & ink. March 2012.

A quick study for East of the Sun and West of the Moon. I was kind of reminiscing about Arthur Rackham’s Alice in Wonderland illustration, Advice from a Caterpillar, when I drew this.