“Lucrezia sat up in bed, as abruptly as if she had been struck by a needle. What was that noise, the unfamiliar cry that had reached down into her dream and shaken her awake? She turned her head one way, she turned it the other. (...) It was not so much a roar, no, which is what Lucrezia had expected: this had a yearning, desperate rasp to it. The sound, Lucrezia thought, of a creature captured against its will, a creature whose desires have all been disregarded.”
This is a scene from a book I just finished: Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. It immediately transformed into an image in my mind, and as such, it had to be put down on paper. I therefore welcome you to the third episode of Drawing While Reading, where I illustrate scenes from the books I read. (This is a very slow-paced series. I read a book every month or two, so don’t expect fast-paced action sequences.)
I’ve drawn scenes from two other books: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, and Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
My imagination reacts visually while I read books, but some images stay with me and demand to be drawn. Sometimes they wait patiently until I finish the book, and sometimes they nudge me eagerly to be drawn as soon as possible. This one kindly waited at the back of my mind until I had time for it.
In the video, I talk about the book (briefly) and the process of making the illustration from sketches to colour swatches to building the scene. I hope you enjoy it!
As always, thanks for reading.
x
Drawing while reading: #3