This week I started a drawing, straight into dotwork with no real preliminary sketch (besides tracing a bowl for the circle of the moon 😆).

I drew from an old photo, and took it from there. Pretty early on I thought I’d ruined it but kept going… the price of good quality paper is a fantastic motivator for perseverance! Each detail was not planned so it’s not perfect, but I like how it turned out.

My little faery friend even inspired me to research moths and I came across Luna moths which I’d never heard of. They are beautiful! I wanted to have a more frilly winged moth but I used the luna moth as a basis.

This style is a very big nod to one of my favourite illustrators, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. Her work was one of a handful of illustrators who I absolutely loved as a child and admire as an adult. It wouldn’t feel right to not acknowledge the beauty she created while drawing faeries and moons and deep dark skies!

Here is a few snaps of Night Faery in progress….

…and all finished.

Categories: Ink Pen