Mixed media illustrator based in Hanoi
One of the perks of being an illustrator working with small authors is that I get to read many interesting stories and visualize it with my ideas. Every illustration has a story behind, but below are some of the most significant projects of mine in terms of storytelling.
A series for a personal story from childhood to adulthood.
A story of two teenagers with Sherlock Holmes inspiration
A classroom story
Two illustrations in a poetry book about a female growth after relationships
I received the request for this project when I was so confused about what direction to go with my life. I was already working on some small commissions, but things was going nowhere.
For this project, I actually offer to do the first sketch for free since I wasn’t sure about myself on how to draw the whole series. The author was asking for a series of detailed ink drawings for leaves and animals. I’m still amazed now by how much trust the author had in me and how smooth things went.
I based many details on botanical illustrations from old books, which I dug up from Internet Archives. I do use photos from Google and other stocks sites, yet they tend to be not as useful. What I look for is an image showing the full branch or plant in clear lighting, and online images tend to be either close-up shots of just the flowers or have a strong contrast.
This project consists of about 30 ink illustrations for 30 poems about nature. It came like a magic touch, and kept me afloat for a whole three months to be able to receive more commission request.
I don’t do much these ink commissions anymore, since I’m working more with colors and full scene illustrations. I still look back this project dearly, since the payment helped supported me in those early days and I had a collection of animal and botanical illustrations in my portfolio.
Yet, birds, animals and plants are still my favorite topics to sketch with ink particularly, I have loosened my grip more, creating an impression rather than detailed inking. I have been taken up with studying animal anatomy carefully to be correct – a small anatomical mistake can make the whole drawing look off!
You can find me on Instagram at @jeanne_lolness
From 2019, I started my career on Fiverr by taking small and medium commissions. Most of my requests are for business articles, comic gifts and small-sized ebooks.
Most of these drawings below are taken out of its context and re-drawn to a certain degree.
Business comics are in high demand, they helps lighten a difficult concept or idea. I enjoy drawing annoyed and surprised emotions, experimenting with moving the eyebrows and mouths to exaggerate the expression.
Comics are also great gifts for friends and lovers, even colleagues. The below characters are from gift commissions or small-scaled books. They are to illustrate moments of awkwardness, relatable accidents and funny moments.
Here is a simple progress image. I often sketch lightly, then reline with ink and add gray shades using a watercolor brush.
Animals are often used when the topic gets too sensitive. They have metaphoric meanings themselves, based on the bias and symbolism we attach to them for a long time. For example, cows are often thought to be silly and rabbits are pure and cute. Sometimes I reuse the bias, sometimes I just draw against them.
Below is the collection of character designs from my 2023 projects. Some are commercial and some are personal. 2023 is the year I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone and stop caring about styles.
I focus on using the characters as tools for the story, the story will decide the level of exaggeration, use of colors (strong/ soft), level of facial details, etc.
I decided to re draw the characters from past projects to see how far I’ve gone and add a new vibe to the character. I like to add a touch of comic and fun to my characters, no matter they are human, animals or objects.
In 2023, I had the chances to work on many small children’s book and kid-friendly illustrations.
The ones below are not the original designs, but rather an updated version. I chose this particular coloring style recalling gouache paintings, which are my favorite medium.
Jeanne Lolness 