Gilles Rainville illustration

Last summer, a local artist was collecting artwork to send to her daughter in the USA. She wanted pieces that would remind her of home in Aylmer. After seeing some of my illustrations, she hired me to create a piece that includes a local breed of rabbit and some of the wild flowers on her property. The contract did have a restriction though. I was not allowed to spend more than 9 hours an the piece. (I actually spent 10... shhhhh.) I started by researching photos of the bunny breed as well as burdock and queen anne's lace.   I sketched out the look of the drawing. This also helped me figure out how to structure the flowers. I found this dark grey piece of board left behind from years ago. I thought this was a great opportunity to challenge myself to draw on a dark surface instead of the usual white. I sketched the composition using a white chalk pencil. I payed extra attention to the growth patterns of the wild flowers. Adding colour was de...

Seeing a humpback whale swim passed our boat was a humbling experience. Such a massive beast carefully passing beneath us ensuring that we are not troubled by his presence. When I discovered that there are albino humpback whales, I wanted to make this the subject of the next piece in the Cycle series. For this drawing, I started with some research photos found on the internet. I chose to draw a few practice studies to help me understand the structure of the subject and how to create some of the more difficult textures in this piece. Once I felt comfortable with the subject, I drew the rough to visualize the layout of the drawing. At the bottom, the cycle begins with a dead whale trapped by a fisherman's net caught on his tail. I really wanted to show the dark depths of the ocean with blues and browns. Afterwards, I used an eraser to create some highlights. I wanted the ocean flora and fauna to give birth to the new whales this time.   I...