Lonesome Moose: A Junior Narrative Illustration by Adam Galles (2018)

My flash fiction story is about a man tasked with the job to give letters to the dead, who lives a solitary life delivering messages. In the climax of the story he find a letter addressed to his family and tries to make it to the location. He is not able to find anyone in an empty apartment so leaves the letter for anyone that goes there. It ends with a semi-resolution.

The process I used to create this piece was to first decide the setting, afterward, I thought of my character and how I could build it based on my character in the story. In my initial sketches, I tried to choose animals that represented my character while still holding the attributes that make it. From there I decided on a moose, because they are solitary animals, a crow, because a crow is timid, and a honey badger because a honey badger is indifferent. After deciding on the animals in my sketchbook I started to sketch them in illustrator, making the shapes that make the animals. I made a rough outline of the background before finishing my character and then the clothes. Then I completed the background and did touch up with shadows and details. My character was placed on the moon because they are in a solitary location alone from the rest of society, it is a foreign environment. The earth in the background represents how he can see the people far away but they are unreachable. Overall I am pleased with my work but looking at the completed project it feels like I could have done more. I learned a lot about illustrator on the way and if I had more time to do it or redo it I would probably add more detail to the landscape. Adding a space probe and also adding to the sky. Then I would add more texture to the moose to make it more lifelike.