This assignment, in my opinion, turned out to be a rather underwhelming culmination to this part of the unit. However, I think as an illustration it might (barely though) serve its purpose in distinguishing between the four seasons. My template was a simple one, slightly more geometrically stylised relative to my usual approach, which is more organic and free flowing, if I may say so myself.

I decided to keep two central elements, one that would remain relatively the same for all four seasons, i.e., the daisy in the foreground, and one that would change with every season, i.e., the tree in the background. Just to add a bit of serenity to the whole composition and to support the tree a little, I added a bench right below the tree. I also positioned the sun to consistently stay in the same position through all four seasons. This late led to my having to figure out more interesting colours for day in each season.

The first image is of spring, which basically served as the “normal” for the other three seasons, where everything is in its purest form, the green grass, a mildly sunny day, a tree with fresh leaves. The only two unchanging elements are the daisy and the bench, Honestly, the process for rendering started off somewhat as an oil painting and later changed to a more a cartoon illustration style with the addition of the outlines. I actually used a concept art brush for the rendering here, thus the more oil painting like texture. The two hardest textures here are the grass and the clouds. And although it may seem like I didn’t really end up with a very complex texture to begin with, I actually frustratedly resorted to this after multiple attempts to produce something more sophisticated.

The second image is of summer which, from my experience is obviously and firstly, is a lot warmer than spring (and the hottest of the four seasons) and a lot more humid as well. In India summer is followed by the monsoon season, which is when most rainfall happens, and as a result it’s a lot muddier and humidity in the air goes up significantly. So I tried to integrate those aspects into the illustration as well, a bit unsuccessful as I might’ve been. However, the objective was also keep the it distinct from the spring illustration so in a way this allowed me to do that. Again, I was rather unsuccessful with the grass.

The third illustration is of autumn, which is a lot cooler and drier than summer. Ironically, the colours of autumn are far warmer than those of the summer, with the grass and the leaves of the tree going drying to an brownish-orange hue. I actually ended up changing the colour of the sky to something I thought complimented the autumn colours better, something more green. Also to break the monotony of the blue sky from the first two seasons. The grass textures came out a lot better this time around.

The final illustration is of winter, which is the coldest of all seasons, both in terms of climate and colour, Everything became a lot more crystallised in this image to suggest the presence of ice. The tree no longer has leaves, and the grass is coated in a thick blanket of snow. Even the daisy undergoes a bit of shining, and while it looks a little like a fried egg, it does give it a bit of charm. The sun also looks frozen, which was done to compliment the climate. I actually don’t mind that bit. That concluded the assignment.