October picture

Katie at Storytellers, Inc. asked me if I'd like to contribute to their 2016 calendar - and I was lucky enough to snap up October! 
I've enjoyed working on it, although I went through a few iterations before settling... 
First I was thinking something Toucans-based:

It was good to remember how much I love drawing these two - it was like looking at the faces of old friends again - but this didn't feel like it was working. I think it's partly the difference between the function of an illustration as part of a narrative verses one you might potentially be looking at every day for a month...
So then I did some Halloween costumes:

I love using the black background against the bright colours, but nothing much was going on here.
Then I thought about making a small narrative, and drawing characters at a size I feel comfortable with, so I combined the two above ideas and got the one below.  I'm happy with this one - it gets across the atmosphere I was hoping for, and has a tiny narrative and a bit more to look at.
I'm looking forward to seeing the other months!

"Lumos!" - or, as Emma suggested on Instagram: "Lumouse!"