Testing ideas, motifs, compositions, and color schemes. I wanted to evoke the feeling of a magical, chaotic, overgrown swamp. Overgrown vines, light on dark, and glowing lights feature heavily in all the designs. This swamp is from a story my sister on which and I have been collaborating for years.

Swamps, much like forests, are typically conveyed in moral extremes: either abundantly good or evilly overgrown. One of my main goals was to capture a morally neutral scene while maintaining a highly magical and chaotic feeling.

I selected fantastical colors for the sky and moon, desaturated colors for the trees, and glowing golden colors for highlights to add a sense of wonder.

Prototyping for the white body employing angled pop-ups and cut-outs. Spacers were used to add multiple layers, transparencies were added, and I refined the silhouette further.

The final pop-up page of the magical, overgrown swamp. I included a backlight to highlight the printed acetate transparency and evoke a truly mystical scene.

Full open and close of the pop-up page.