I Illustrated My Wife Every Day For A Month For Her Birthday Present

Hello everyone, my name is Ben Pannell and I’m an illustrator living outside Philadelphia with my wife Adrienne (featured below) and two cats.

I painted these images in February as a birthday present for her. I wanted to give myself a monthly challenge, something I’d never done before. I used three programs: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS6 and Clip Studio Paint. I’d create the sketch in Clip Studio (for the smooth, buttery lines) and do the actual painting in Photoshop. Illustrator came in whenever there was any text or patterns.

The theme changed every day. There was no list to follow except for a bunch of random ideas in my head. Adrienne said I could do anything as long as her mom would be able to see it. She only ever requested one theme, and that was English Garden. I’d wake up in the early morning and get to work. Every day for a month. Some took only a couple hours but more than a few took all day; sometimes 9 - 10 hours.

I had a lot of fun painting my wife every day. I became a faster and more competent illustrator because of these. Adrienne seemed to like it too.

More info: benpannell.com