While the actual drawing of this brief was quite straight forward much as any other illustration in the past, much of the challenges lied in the sketching and composition stages in the beginning, which stems from the specific requirements that was attached to this commission.
First thing was that it was intended for Instagram, therefore, the illustration would have to fit in the square ratio of the Instagram's display. For me in particular, having been used to the wide-shot, cinematic looking ratio for my illustrations, I found it to be very crammed, especially when you trying to show off each of the character's design as much as possible. Which bring us to the 2nd major point of this commission.
As listed in the image above, it was to describe the 4 girls together taking a group selfie. This means, that there would be a lot of playing around with the posing , perspective, the emotions displayed on each of the characters... It has to make sense from position perspective while keeping it natural and fun and shows the personality of the characters ( who are the main highlights of this illustration ). Another point was also to highlight their outfit design ( which is another major draw-in factor for the audience) which ties us back to the first point regarding the limited space of the grid ratio, which when combined with "taking a selfie" pov, as seen down below, doesn't leave much space to show off each individual in the picture.
However, after playing around with different variations, I found that high-angle shots such as below provided the best field of view for the characters. And using that as a base, I managed to came up with a composition sketch that both me and the Yostar team was happy with.
Having done away with the trickiest bits the rest of the process was very efficient and clear. The most notable thing during this stage was probably deciding on the outfit design, with the main theme of "casual and modern in mind". I also take into account of each character's bio when choosing the outfit as well, in regards to their origin and personality such as, Prinz Eugen (the far left character) being German - and therefore having the Iron-cross necklace and gothic-influenced clothings, Enterprise ( next to Prinz,) wearing a US navy-style military cap combined with a much more cool and hip-hop look to her outfit while Belfast and Hood ( both are British) , both have a more refined form of casual clothing.
Prinz Eugen outfit influences 
Final grayscale sketch prior to colouring
Overall I was very happy with the outcome of this brief. The requirements certainly gave me a good challenge to overcome, as well as being a good practice in perspective shots and outfit design for me and of course, a gain in publicity and my own confidence in working professional projects. A very fulfilling result !
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