HVN BBY

a digital illustration inspired by "poëzie plaatjes", which are glittery vintage stickers (usually picturing angels, white birds and pretty flower baskets, etc.), children used to decorate their poetry albums with. Because these stickers often feature biblical themes, hvn bby naturally became some sort of interpretation of what Heaven could possibally look like (not necessarily mine).
I've came to notice that religious/spiritual themes often reoccur in my work, which was a surprise to me at first, since I'm an atheist and feel very out of touch with the spiritual world. Maybe it is some kind of subconcious quest for me. Or perhaps my interest stems from the way a lot of religions make very clear distinctions between the good and the evil, which is an intriguing concept to me, as I experience this world, humans and myself as very gray areas.
For the character design, I wanted to draw a really pretty, angelic, heavenly beauty. It felt really important to me to give her hairy legs and stretch marks, because those should by seen as heavenly beautiful as wel!

this illustration started off as a fun little experiment to try and see what my digital illustrations would look like without the typical black outlines I do. While working on other illustrations, I noticed that they also looked good when I removed the layer in which I drew the black outlines, only the colors remaining. A lot of artist who I follow on instagram make digital illustrations without contours, and I find myself very visually attracted to this kind of style.
So I decided to try it out by digitalizing a quick pencil sketch I had made of a girl in a heart-shaped pool, after browsing through an instagram page that features pretty hotel rooms. The rest of the interior design I did came naturally to me while illustrating in Photoshop. This work doesn't have that deep of a meaning, but I tried to incorporate some things I personally love at the moment! Such as the knee-high pink vinyl go-go dancer boots I bought recently, and some pottery designs that I really want to create when my school opens again.
During the process of this drawing, my relationship with it was rather complex. I couldn't decide whether I really liked it or absolutely hated it. That's why, when the illustration was almost finished, I decided to add a huge crack through the pool, to symbolize the way I feel about this work.
One thing that I really like is the fucked up perspective the room has, which is a result of the experimental and carefree way I worked. All with all, I had a lot of fun making this, and I (most of the time ;)) like how it turns out.