Illustration and Story Study - Results

For this study, I asked fellow Computer Artist Eilis to write me a short paragraph for illustrating. The purpose of this study was to see how closely the picture drawn will illustrate the story written according to the public, and if not, why? Did my twists obscure the original meaning of the passage given?

Originally given paragraph:

"Once there lived a girl, who found it difficult to relate to other people. she had mouse brown hair that covered her eyes, and spent most of her time hiding away in a nearby forest. She befriended an owl, who she had trained to be her night eyes." 

Question to viewers:

"Without analyzing it too deeply, I want you to tell me what kind of person you think the character is, and briefly what is happening in the picture."

Final Illustration:

Feedback on image from initial thought:

"She looks like someone who lacks confidence, a person that keeps their true feelings locked up inside of them. She finds it hard to talk and interact with others (thus she has a owl for companionship). Her long hair covering her face gives me the impression that she is very timid and shy thus uses her hair to cover her face..."

"She is sad because she's alone and lost and a guy she likes is off with someone else to a warm and cozy place. The owl is a symbol for herself. She sees herself as a loner, staying up all night, missing this guy.
Maybe she's like a huntress, she can see through the darkness and knows what she wants and how to get it. She just need to understand how to realize this and get passed her sadness."

"Shes obviously hurt by the two in the background being together and the owl kinda suggests shes good with animals."

"some kind of forest girl, who has just had her heart broken by someone who is with another person. The owl may be her friend?"

"The girl seems sad, and the couple walking away in the background would indicate that she likes one of them but got rejected. She definitely seems like shes heard some bad news and is consoling herself. The owl could be judging the others..."

"That she grew up in the forest and befriended animals but didnt know how to interact with people She seems sensitive, and has animals for friends."

Results:

I'm impressed by how similar the feedback and the original passage was, given that I was worried the composition and overall image could have been portrayed much better. Because of this insecurity, I tweaked the original story to portray a couple in the distance entering a warm welcoming house, rather than having a bunch of people interacting and her isolated from the event. This I feel was my own twist to the story shown through my art.

- To practise thumbnails/composition to get better truer results

- To think of different angles/twists that could still show the original concept

I believe this study will heavily influence how I tackle my "Story Study" with portraying two different angles of the same story.