Initial ideas in my sketchbook (pen)

The focus text as given by the 2016 prompt, followed by my pencil portrait progress

Granny's house (crayon drawing) + media testing for the 'iron' trees, wolf and portrait + experimentation with the background mapping.

Test run... making a composite of the background artwork with the pencil portrait.

Many layers, many elements. Moving from Illustrator to Photoshop. 

My favorite part of this composition is the dialogue between the real and the imagined. Red Riding Hood has her eyes closed recalling the forward journey to Grandma's house. It is colorful like a child's drawing and populated with distractions along the blue path. (I was inspired by the aerial perspective and colors of Australian Aboriginal paintings.) The trees take the form of flat, iconic shapes, loosely based on the shape of an iron... a hint to the danger ahead. I thoroughly enjoyed this illustration challenge of re-inventing a classic fairy tale. As with each assignment, I love the composition puzzle of matching text to imagery.