For almost two weeks ago @liberosist asked me if I wanted to illustrate his sci-fi short story, Silence In Time. I had never illustrated something like that before, so I was not sure how I would even go about starting a task like that. But I really liked his story. It reminded me of my favorite anime, Steins;Gate, and I had been wanting to practice drawing people for a while, so I said yes.

Initially, I wanted to make bigger drawings, that had a lot more detail in them. But that would have taken me at least 4-5 weeks to complete, and they needed to be done way before that, so I had to come up with another solution. I decided to make smaller drawings (15x7 cm) and try to make them tell the story without putting to much details into them. In other words – simple, but expressive.

The following contains spoilers, so I highly recommend reading the short story before continuing:

Silence in Time – by @liberosist

From Initial Idea to Fnished Illustration

I read each of the chapters, one chapter at a time. After each chapter I wrote down the first words or feelings that I got, and drew a quick stick-figure sketch of the first thing that popped up in my mind. I found this to be a really effective way of coming up with initial ideas. Of course, a few of the ideas had to be changed, they were either to difficult for me to illustrate, or they didn't work out like I had intended, but I actually ended up using most of my initial ideas.

I don't have much practice with drawing humans, so the sketching process took much longer to complete than if I had been drawing something that I'm familiar with, like pokémon or animals. It was challenging, but also a lot of fun, working in this new style. I know there are some anatomical errors in the finished drawings, but I'm still really happy with how they turned out. 

Chapter 1

Initial thoughts: Woman, rural, hotel

Concept sketch

Translation: Nature, hotel, deserted.

Finished drawing

I wanted to express that we don't really know who this woman is, and to put her in a setting that is kind of mysterious. 

Chapter 2

Initial thoughts: Assassin, silence

Concept sketch

Translation: Lighting, green, assassin

Finished drawing

She knows, or feels, that she was a spy, a saboteur or an assassin. That's what I wanted to express. I chose assassin, since it seemed like she was going to kill the man in the hotel room.

Chapter 3

Initial thoughts: Ghost, shadow, invisible

Concept sketch

Translation: Invisible

Finished drawing

I wanted to express the fact that she was like a ghost. She could move around without getting detected, and there were no trace of who she really was.

Chapter 4

Initial thoughts: DNA, possibility

Concept sketch

Translation: Pumpkin (my concept sketch looked like it had a pumpkin for a head... :P )

Finished drawing

DNA brings new possibilities to find out who she is. 

Chapter 5

Inithial thoghts: Sneak, corridor, time

Concept sketch

Finished drawing

I initially had planned on making three small drawings, but this turned out to be too difficult. I dropped the initial idea, and decided to go for a situation that expressed her sneaking around, avoiding the lights, heading for the door.

Chapter 6:

Initial thoughts: Escape, security, red light

Concept sketch

Translation: Rødt lys

Finished drawing

She is escaping. They're after her, but are never able to get close to her. She is always one step in front of the red light.

Chapter 7

Initial thoughts: Alone, disbelief 

Concept sketch

Finished drawing

I dropped the initial idea, and decided to go with something that better expressed the feeling she had when finding out she's all alone.

Chapter 8

Initial thoughts: Gun, confrontation, answers

Concept sketch

Finished drawing

She demands answers, and she's not gonna stop until she gets them. 

Chapter 9

Initial thoughts: Silence in Time, time travel, dimensions

Concept sketch

Translation: Face, front

Finished drawing

I love how this drawing turned out. For me this is the one I'm most happy with. It expresses the feeling "Silence in Time" gives me - a mysterious, exiting, thrilling, sci-fi feel.

Some coloring improvement was also made

I had only colored hair three times before starting on these drawings, but I've never colored hair in this particular style. 

The first one I colored didn't turn out that good, but I'm really happy with the last two I did. I figured I had to use less strokes and less blending, making the shine and details in the hair stand out.

The Support Crew

Only one of them this time. Sometimes she just stares at me like this...

 

Postface

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• Introduction post
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