"Headspace" Australian National Youth Mental Health Foundation Illustrations Part 2

So here is the final part of my illustration job for "Headspace," The Australian Government's Youth Mental Health program. The final illustration deals with self-harm. Obviously, this is a very difficult subject to deal with. And the illustration didn't want to show self-harm directly. No blood. So, instead, it was decided that to show a teenager somewhat isolated and withdrawn would be the best way to go.

SELF-HARM-

This illustration started out as five girls sitting around, chatting, with one girl different. Isolated. It was decided on draft two, that two of the girls should be boys. The brief stated that there should be a mix of ethnicities included.

The final illustration.

Detail of the self-harm girl.

Teenagers detail.

 Teenager detail #2.

The final illustration as used in the self-harm infographic by Lauren Hollern.

This was a really nice project to work on. The palette was limited, which was a bit of a challenge. And trying not to go all cartoony was also somewhat unusual for me. But for my first properly paid illustration commission, I really enjoyed it!

"Headspace" Australian National Youth Mental Health Foundation Illustrations Part 1

Okay, long blog title! So this is what I've been working on for the last few weeks. I mentioned last month that I was approached to do some illustration for "Headspace," the foundation that deals with youth mental health in Australia. I finished the project two weeks ago, and this long blog post is all about that. So... enjoy!


ANGER-

The brief for 'Anger' was to be a young man, a teenager, struggling to pull apart a wall, surrounded by debris of that wall. This was the original sketch for that piece-

After going through line work and painting with Photoshop, here is the final illustration. I was limited to a certain palette, and flesh tones, so what you'll see in these illustrations is... a limited palette-

A close-up of the dude's face. I was quite happy with the tip of the nose and the fingers... for some reason-

And the final infographic by Lauren Hollern, that was posted on the Headspace website, and their Facebook page-

SELF ESTEEM-

 This one started out as a male and female. One happy and outgoing, the other shy-

On the second pass, it was decided that both of the characters should be the same person, different personas, facing a mirror-

The final illustration-

And the infographic by Lauren Hollern-

So they are the first two parts of the project. I'll post the final part, self-esteem, next week, as it was the largest part of the project.