Illustration Friday - Prepare

Time for my second week of Illustration Friday!

After browsing through some flickr sets, I stumbled upon this gem by Lou Cunette:

I love the kind of split screen thing happening here. Two woman from different eras exchanging a gift, as if they were right there beside each other in the same room. I'm hoping to achieve a similar composition in my work this round.
The lady in blue inspired me to try a period piece, with fashion inspired by the 1800s.

I went on a tangent with my thumbnails, mostly to keep the pencil going and explore ideas. I ended up designing a man and woman that I am growing attached to in the second picture down below.

Now that I have their faces, it's time to design some clothes! Glorious clothing!

So after a lot of searching for early, mid and late 1800s fashion, I decided on clothes that my characters will wear. With that done, I went on to rough out the composition for my illustration.

These two seem to be preparing for a night out! How lovely. Next I need to clean it up and color it in.

Part way through, I felt the split-in-half composition was not doing the atmosphere of the couple any justice. I asked a good friend of mine for some creative advice, and after tinkering with it and changing the backdrop slightly, I ended up with a final piece of illustration I was happy with.