Backgrounds with characters -test

Inspired, by my children's illustration research i have been trying harder to simplify my artwork. There is something very appealing in the result that I'm getting and i will continue on the same path. Here is another example, here i have used various watercolour textures, and created it in the style of a cut-outs. I have also been asked to integrate my character and background designs , and when i did, I understood the importance of it. At the moment my characters don't integrate very well with the background. I will work on changing that over the next week or so. Here is why :

Paper background concept

I have been working on creating some background concept art, using the handmade paper textures that I've created. Firstly i made some sketches of trees, but they turned out to be too complicated and I've decided to simplify them a LOT for the actual concept. I like the result because it looks quite childlike, it is hard for me to create images like that, as i am a perfectionist and ever since i can remember have always strived for realism in my artwork. For this project i wanted to go in a completely different direction, and i am consciously MAKING myself try new approaches of creating images. So here are the sketches and the resulting concept art:

Hand-made paper

So it took absolute ages for the paper to dry, but it finally has !!! And I've peeled it off the acetate sheets, and i am so proud to have actually made it myself. As you can see a lot of it isn't perfect, some got damaged as i was peeling it off the plastic, but i am still pleased with. I will be making some more in different colors and i also want to try making plant paper. Here are some examples scanned in at low rez,they have a very hand-made feel and i can't wait to start using it for my concept art.

Paper making

For my background design i have always wanted to experiment with using various textures, to create unique backgrounds. I've quite wanted to use hand crafted paper textures, but i haven't been able to find any in the shops, there i have watched a few tutorials and decided to make my own- handmade paper. I also ended up making my own deckle and frame , as i didn't really fancy spending £30 or so on it, and more so , waiting for it to arrive in the post!

So here's how i made it, i bought two identical cheap wooden photoframes, and a couple of small hinges, in a DIY store. And joined the two frames with the hinges, which was the simple part. For the deckle i needed a small netted material, which i COULD NOT FIND anywhere. I ended up, being really experimental and bought this ironing net cut it to size and stapled it to a cardboard frame (which i sellotaped all around to make it waterproof). The result was quite fragile, so i was extremely amazed when it actually worked.

My first attempts were quite funny looking, but eventually i started getting the hand of it and getting  whole pieces of paper. HOORAY! I've had to do everything outside, and it was absolutely freezing. Cold and wet weather means i won't have the dry paper for a couple of days but here are some photos of the set-up i used to make my papers:

More character concepts

Here is the bear character, which came out really stylised ,just as i wanted so I'm quite happy with him, i think i might have to return to the fox  and the hen characters though as i find he's not as charming as the original quick concept that i created. But for now here's the bear with the fox and the hen, as they are :

New Fox Character

Here are the fox character designs, as they are finalised at this point. They may change, but i am preparing to pitch my project to some industry professionals, therefore i need to have character and background concepts to present. So below is the fox character: