I was commissioned by Savannah J. Foley to make a website header. Savannah is a talented writer who mainly writes Young Adult. Her stories are brilliantly written, so I felt very inspired while drawing the website header. With the help of some of Savannah's own suggestions I made 3 different concepts. I made them all as different as possible, while still incorporating her favourite colours and requests. I wanted the header to evoke a feeling of fantasy and magic.

While I first planned to make simple sketches, I eventually went for a more concept-art approach. I sketched directly in colours and shapes. Since the illustration is a website header (960px wide) and doesn't need to be printed, I did not have to work on a very large canvas. During my work on the concepts I did not zoom in unless it was absolutely necessary.

The 1st concept. A girl runs in a field, the purple hue of the sunset makes all manner of life glow.

My 2nd concept. Magical creatures emerge from a book on a background of stars and nebula.

My 3rd and last concept. A girl discovers she has accidentally caught something very special.

These 3 concepts were all well received, but the last one was chosen to be completed in detail.

The finished website header with a hiding dragon, roses, fireflies and bats as requested.

You can view the bigger and more detailed version in the Illustration gallery.