"Rose Colored" – Creature Illustration

Designed a rose–serpent hybrid creature illustration for “Rose Colored,” blending organic beauty and subtle menace to reflect the tension of an unhealthy love.

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This illustration was created for my song “Rose Colored,” a gritty heartbreak ballad about staying in an unhealthy relationship while hoping it will improve—before ultimately choosing to walk away. The creature combines a rose, fanged mouth, and serpent elements to visually represent beauty intertwined with danger and emotional tension.

I began with a rough sketch in my sketchbook, which was scanned and refined in Adobe Illustrator to develop expressive linework and varied line weights for added character and emotion. The finalized linework was then brought into Photoshop, where I applied base colors, shading, and highlights to the creature. Then I incorporated blurred rose imagery, gradients, and subtle paper texture to the background to achieve a digital–analog hybrid aesthetic.

The color palette centers on warm earth tones and pastels—primarily reds, pinks, browns, and greens with hints of purple—creating a nostalgic yet modern feel that aligns with the broader visual identity of both the single and the album it later became a part of.

The final piece balances softness and edge, mirroring the song’s emotional arc from denial to decisive release.