“Once in a Blue Moon”

The 3-page foldout cover below was illustrated for my issue of the Harvard Lampoon, the nation’s oldest continually published humor magazine and Harvard College’s most renowned publication group. The theme of my issue was “Once In A Blue Moon#”, drawing on all that is unlikely, rare, or even non-existent.

The finished cover, in digital form

The finished cover, in magazine form

I’ve been an undergraduate artist for the Harvard Lampoon for more than two years, now, and this piece is one of my proudest creations. It depicts, with fantasy and innocence, unlikely creatures witnessing the phases of the moon in the backdrop, arching over the entire panorama. Below is the process.

Process

The initial sketches and concept. As you can see, it changed drastically!

Making progress on the initial sketches (soon to be scrapped...)

I didn't like the original concenpt. Something felt off, so I scrapped it and started anew!

Blocking in the background

Adding in the dark, shadow values

Some lines to clarify for the forms

Added some light to the moons, giving them their phases

Cleaned up the lines

Slight color adjustment

Fleshed out the characters

Added in the title header

I felt like there needed to be an overarching and funny phenomenon/rare event to accentuate the "once in a blue moon" factor. Thus, I added a catastrophic meteor crashing into the scene

Finishing touches

Closing Note

I hope it was enjoyable to take a look into this process, and I look forward to posting more content on Steemit! Feel free to follow more of my works on my instagram and my website.

Best,
Teddy