The main purpose of creating this illustration was to make a desktop background for myself. I wanted something calming, and a little stream going through a forest seemed like a perfect fit. While I was fairly confident in the subject matter from the beginning, I had a much harder time coming up with a color scheme I was happy with. As you scroll down the page, you will see that I didn’t end up using any of the color comps I created. I had started with one at the beginning, but as I kept going, I ended up straying away from that initial concept. While this isn’t something I typically do, I believe that it was better for the illustration in the end.

Overall, this drawing was a great exercise in learning to loosen up when painting and applying texture, and it was a nice change of pace from how I would paint similar environments in the past.