This painting was created from the drawing you see here on the right, which I did in 1997. For the beginning stage, I first worked out the composition by tracing the original drawing. As you can see I've made some changes to the 1997 version. I replaced one fairy and added two new ones to make the painting more lively. For the same reason I also added more flowers, and ivy branches to balance the composition. I also fixed the perspective on the still life, which was somewhat off in the original drawing. Finally, even though it's not obvious at this point, I decided to change the backdrop inside the frame to daytime, to contrast the candlelight.

Once I had every element worked out, I transferred the final drawing to my working surface, in this case series 500 lightweight illustration board by Strathmore, with the help of wax-free transfer paper. I then went over the lines with a 2H pencil. No need to worry about the pencil lines - they will eventually be washed out completely by application of ink and paint.