Illustrating minimalism with a twist

When I thought of my fourth image from my black and white series, my mind was inclining to a certain minimalism and to nature. As I always like to add certain uncertainty, darkness, sadness to my creations, I thought of leaving a question mark to the viewers. Why minimalism with a twist? Because I broke away from it as soon as I decided to focus on the teddy bear as well, making sure the viewers could see it.

Illustrating in thumbnails

When I have some ideas in mind, I roughly draw them in thumbnails to give me a general idea of how the final version would look like. I started off imaging the Scottish hills with a tree at the top and a bench. Thinking further, I envisioned the scene being at the top with a view. In this case, the third thumbnail would be the most appropriate one…🤔😁 The picture bellow can demonstrate well my process and thoughts. Thinking of positions and the story I wanted to create.

Reaching the final version of the minimalism illustration

One of my thumbnails was with the bench facing backwards to the viewer. I couldn’t draw it properly to being with and that served as a challenge for me and induced me to have a go with it. I also thought of stressing further the uncertainty with an unknown view. Was the bench a tree at the top with a precipice quite near? Why there is only a teddybear in the bench? Paying well attention to the angle of the teddy on the bench allowed me to invoke the sad expression of “left there”. The falling leaves also contributes to the mood, mainly when the illustration has motion in it.