I played with how exactly the expressions will look. The initial weather concept was very UI looking: solid forms and flat colors. I wanted to see if there was something better. The narrated process below goes along with this visual exploration.
My sketches of the visual elements used lined work. When I digitally designed them created they looked very cold (page 1). Since I am dealing with emotion, it needs to feel more personal. I tried putting it on photos I took of the sky (pages 2 & 3) but still didn't like it. So I thought back to my handwriting ideas and traced the line work, kind sloppy since it's so small, with a pencil (pages 4 & 5) and then a marker (pages 6 & 7). Better but not quite. I then thought about watercolor and washes. I didn't have blue dye but I used some Curaçao and brushed that on paper and scanned it in just to see. I tried it with the computer version (page 8) and the marker versions (pages 9 & 10). It was a toss up between pages 8 and 9. I bought some food coloring and thicker paper and experimented with mixing the colors with water and milk. The process for the staining in on pages 11–13. I liked the texture that the milk produced (page 14). The computer illustrations on page 8 seemed too cold and the marker on page 9 seemed too thick so I tried using a pen for thinner thins and a personal feel. This resulted in my chosen visual direction on page 15.