My project in Watercolor Illustration with Japanese Influence course

My project in Watercolor Illustration with Japanese Influence course

For the final project of this course, I was inspired by the monkeys from Raya and the Last Dragon. However, I discovered that they are fantasy creatures.

Upon digging a little deeper (long live the internet), I learned about 'golden monkeys', creatures with adorable looks and the most awesome color combination. Those monkeys I would use for reference.

And so I started sketching them. And practicing poses, based on child's poses. And I added clothes and messed around with the color palette. I really love this part of the process, and Pinterest is my best friend when I do this.

In addition to monkey images, I started looking for a background. I simply searched for 'Japan' and got quite a few gems. I combined two; a street on a cloudy day and a different street with a temple in the background.

Here, I decided, I wanted to let Saru play.

And so I sketched thumbnails of the environments I had in mind (not pictured) and tested my color palette on it. I liked where it was going!

I am thrilled with the outcome. Never would I have guessed to be able to make something like this. I'm super happy with it and incredibly thankful for the inspiration of this course.