Wild Swimming

Of the two options, i chose to create an illustration depicting a wild swimming scene.
I did alot of character design but i was not very happy with the results. I then decided to use animals as opposed to humans, I thought i could play about with the characters and poses more.
I created a photoshopped version, drawn first in fineliner, then coloured. I like the colour palette but i think the image looks far too flat and i don't think there's enough energy in the illustration to make it interesting.

 To gain a bit of texture and depth to the image i tried re-rendering it in watercolour. I added each element separately which has made the image seem quite disjointed. I like the colours and the richness of the image but it still doesn't seem to sit right and somehow the characters look even calmer in this image. I really want to show some energy and fun in my wild swimming image...I think the content lends itself to being playful.

I found that there are not many ways i could change this image to make it look how i wanted so i tried again using different animals. I took the yeti character from my retold story ( a character i am really proud of and love using!) and created a group of yetis having fun swimming!
I changed the background colours to make it look like the sort of location you may find yetis (in the snow) and designed them so that they interact and create a pleasing composition.
I found this illustration really tricky to grasp for some reason, and i am quite pleased with the result, but i think that this particular outcome is probably my weakest. I know now that although i am ok at drawing characters, i need much more practice in the way of creating more complex illustrated scenes.