The assignment was given by Dan Dos Santos during a mentorship at smARTschool. The goal was to capture the spirit of the story, not to illustrate a single scene out of context. So, off did I go to read and collect my own thoughts on the story:

I did not see it that much as a romantic love story, but more like people who understand each other as symbols, as they have no chance at first to meet eye to eye and get to know each other before destiny strikes - which brought in some thematic blindness

From the first batches of thumbnails I chose these two to turn into more detailed sketches. Both come from the angle of them not seeing each other - thus the eyes closed or hidden. I still like these drawings, but as you can guess - we kept pushing from here :D

Here are the more detailed sketches that will serve as base for the painting, and to gather reference. It was Dan's idea to have Eros' blood, from where the arrow pierced him, run down Psyche's arm too. As it helps to tie their connection further together

With some input from Dan I tested my skills at having two bodies intertwine in very intersting ways and breaking my brain in the process. They're cool thumbnails tho. And bring us close to the final direction this is going to take.

The sketch >>>> The final painting

Starting out, in case you haven't met me yet - I'm Julia, a freelance illustrator from Germany with a focus on fantasy art :) Below you can see my thumbnail and my finished painting

thumbnail sketches