World Rainforest Day 2024, illustrated a bigger piece
As an appreciation for the rainforest and as well to celebrate World Rainforest Day on June 22, I decided to illustrate this Amazon rainforest. Thank you for working very hard to feed and to keep each and everyone on the Earth alive.
Let’s just say, I do have a background from conservation, including the environment or animals are the biggest part for most of my illustrations.
World Rainforest Day 2024 (Amazon Rainforest). Gouache and colored pencil on Arto by Campap acrylic painting pad, 360g (A3 format)
I chose the “morning concept” as it's a good wake up in the land of “Lungs of the Earth”. Some are enjoying their morning routine, some are still in dreamland.
This is the biggest piece yet I have ever drawn. It was very complicated, I did pretty much the study of the forest and list of animals before starting. Tried my best to separate each layer of the rainforest. And I must say I am proud of myself because I was stressed and joyful at the same time in order to complete this illustration.
The Concept
The idea of this piece is to highlight as many species as possible, from the tree to animals. There are 16 animals in this jungle land, each of them have their own roles as to ‘enjoying the morning routine’.
Breakdown the ideation, mark out which layer, tree, animal to feature
Breakdown the separated layer of the rainforest
The Animal
Illustration Process
From sketch to the final piece
Sketching time took me for about 15 hours to complete. The way I sketched was part by part, and mark out which animal to be featured where and what activity are they doing.
Coloring itself took me for about 10-15 hours. I used HIMI MIYA gouache as the first layer and added Prisma colored pencils for texture and shadow that making each elements popped-out.
Happy World Rainforest Day!