"Hummingbirds" – Creature Illustration

Designed an autumnal hummingbird hybrid illustration for “Hummingbirds,” blending pastoral warmth and delicate transformation to reflect the quiet ache of unrequited love.

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This illustration was created as the promotional creature artwork for my debut single “Hummingbirds,” a gentle, contemplative folk-soul ballad about loving someone who will never love you in the same way. The song moves through seasonal daydreams—autumn to winter—painting pastoral Midwestern landscapes as metaphors for longing.

The creature design reflects that emotional world. A hummingbird’s wings and tail morph into clusters of autumn maple leaves, while a small pussy willow branch hangs from its beak—symbolizing tenderness, seasonality, and fragile hope. The palette leans heavily into warm earth tones—burnt oranges, browns, goldenrod yellows—with hints of white and deep magenta, echoing Midwestern fall foliage and the nostalgic warmth that defines the song’s visual identity.

The process began with a rough sketch in my sketchbook, which I scanned and refined in Adobe Illustrator to develop expressive linework and varied line weights for added emotion and movement. The finalized linework was brought into Photoshop for base color, shading, highlights, and texture. I layered blurred autumn leaves and tree imagery, gradients, and subtle paper textures in the background to create a digital–analog hybrid aesthetic.

The final piece balances softness and transformation—capturing the feeling of hovering close to something beautiful that was never meant to land.