Portrait of an author: CS Lewis

After creating the portrait of JRR Tolkien, I asked my Instagram followers for suggestions on authors they'd like to see in this style. One of them was CS Lewis.

Contrary to popular belief, Lewis wasn't English, but born in Northern Ireland, which in his opinion surpassed the English landscapes. He was briefly atheist during the First World War, but returned to Christianity after persuaded by Tolkien, and wrote as many books on "Christian Apologetics" as his famous novels. He was very kind, taking in child evacuees during World War Two, and donating his book royalties to charity. He was very surprised to find that he still needed to pay taxes on these donations!

I had another go at making a gif in Procreate:

See the time-lapse of the creation here

In teaching myself basic animation, I didn't realise how time-consuming and frustrating it can be. The above animation took over an hour and a half to create, and I'm not sure it's the best use of time, but it's good to experiment. Rather than using layers, I'll look into animation programs that might speed things up. I do like how it brings an illustration to life, but there must be a faster way...

My list of suggestions for authors currently include the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen. Leave a comment here or on Instagram if there's an author you'd like to see!

Madeleine