The Priory of the Orange Tree
15 illustrations from the first part of my favorite fantasy novel, Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree.
This is a personal project, made during my last year as an illustration student at Esma Montpellier. It is my graduation project, which earned me first place at the end-of-year jury.
My main inspiration for these illustrations was academic and neoclassical painters, as it is a kind of painting I have loved since I was young, often used to represent legends and myths – which is the feeling I got when reading the book.
I tried to focus on the storytelling, which is why I chose each element in my images to relate to the story; for instance, if a statue is in the background, it represents a character from a legend mentioned in the book. I also looked to create very diverse compositions, color schemes, and lighting atmospheres, picking the scenes I would illustrate based on their relevance in the story and on the elements that would appear in them (new characters, creatures, etc.).
Everything was painted using Adobe Photoshop, and each illustration took from 35 to 70 hours, based on its format and the complexity of the composition.
Portraits
Speedpaint videos