Illustration: Lolita!

A theatre poster illustration for the production "Lolita!", which is a play loosely based on the famous book, Lolita, by Vladimir Nobokov. I was interested in capturing the transient nature of the story, of Lolita's pre-pubesence as well as the possibility of her leaving/escaping, with Lolita squirming in her chair, staying and going:


Lolita!
Brush and Ink + Photoshop CS3, x cm @ 450dpi

I also recently read the book, Lolita, and I was continually surprised by the sheer energy of Nobokov's writing. He has a beautiful rhythm that keeps rolling right until the last page. What surprised me the most, however, was that he wrote the book in English. Reading the book, I kept thinking how the translator did a wonderful job in getting that energy across. At the end, I found he actually wrote it! Wow.

Here is an earlier version. While I liked it, I felt like tonally it wasn't expressive enough.



I extended the space in the next illustration because I found it more expressive of her alienation - as well as giving room for the title and other type! I kept this in the final illustration but adjusted the blacks by simplifying them a bit from this version:



And finally, the rough pencil sketch, which I lightboxed (and then inked):