When you want to create a specific feeling in your viewer, it helps to consider how you’re going to do it. Just diving into a drawing is creatively cathartic, but may not be effective. Drawing is not just an aesthetic process, it’s also strategic. Here’s a drawing I did for a fantasy book. I wanted to give the book some gravitas. I wanted to put these little beings in grave danger in order to get the viewer to root for them. The angle of the stairs and size of the door (barricade) conveys an urgency to the task. The little beings can barely make it up the stairs, let alone keep out the danger on the other side of the gate – but they must, or the kingdom will be lost. You’ll have your own process in developing a concept. But it may be helpful to take a moment to plan ahead.
