Art of Dawn Doughty Davidson


A Word from the Artist

The Chronicles of Narnia have always been some of my favorite books, ever since my childhood. Like a lot of little girls, I was in love with things like unicorns and centaurs, and I was also something of an escapist, so the idea of opening a door into a magical otherworld was very appealing. And of course, there was Aslan. I was aware of the symbolism in Narnia already, and a character who combined Divine power and fearsomeness with compassion and approachability definitely helped me, at a young age, to comprehend the nature of God. Not surprisingly, Aslan is my favorite character to depict in my artwork!

My preferred creative method is to sketch out an entire composition by hand, scan it, and then do the color work in Adobe Photoshop. I may or may not take a few pictures to reference for expressions, angles, and lighting (although my work usually comes out much better when I do!) Nothing can take the place of a pencil in the hand and a tactile sheet of drawing paper, and I love drawing for hours.

However, with much of my Narnia art, I have had to work under a very tight deadline, and needed to streamline the process. Often I wind up pulling my reference photos straight into the computer, and then using photoshop layers to paint directly on top of them, picking up colors from the original photo. Since I most often use my own face, the end result typically looks nothing like the beginning! But if I’m lucky enough to find models who fit my mental image of certain characters, I will stick pretty close to the photos. It sounds simple, but it is still a challenge to harmonize a composition using this technique, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll come out better than those that start with a sketch.

My goal is to hone my painting skills until the viewer can’t tell the difference between which artworks started with a sketch and which with a photo. Judging by several reactions, I’m beginning to get there!

– Dawn Doughty Davidson

10 Comments

  1. Isobel P.

    Wow! These are amazing! I the 5th one if my favorite.

    Reply
  2. narniagirl11

    I really like the one of Aravis and Lasaraleen. It captures exactly how I have imagined the Calormene fashions.

    Reply
  3. Eva of Cair Paravel

    Wow, these are amazing!! You’ve done a great job! 😀

    Reply
  4. faith

    why can’t I see the pictures?

    Reply
    • Tenethia

      Faith, they turned off the gallery for a bit — it was causing a site glitch. Not sure when it will be back. Sorry

      Reply
  5. albero1

    Wow! These are all so amazing! I love the one of the White Witch. The bright red lips on the completely white face… it just evokes this evilness…
    And the “Last Battle Cover?” it’s so… just, wow.
    I think the one of Tash is so scary, but at the same time so amazing.
    There’s one with Kristi! :mrgreen:
    I like all of them for different reasons. :mrgreen;

    Reply
    • cor

      These are amazing. They put all the pictures I have ever drawn to shame! I especially like the one with Aslan and Cor/Shasta!
      (There are TWO of me!!!)

      Reply
  6. random-fangirl

    Wow,these are amazing! I say that the 7th one is my favorite but I like how all of them are done.

    Reply
  7. sardhrantor

    These are so amazing! I have to say that your portrayal is how I picture Rilian now. ^_^

    Reply
  8. jasmine_tarkheena

    I think that out of the artwork there, my favorite is the one with Emeth and Aslan.

    Reply

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