Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Illustration Friday: Wilderness

And he looked in horror at the 'wilderness' before him...

I don't know why I had such trouble with the IF topic this week. It's pretty open-ended, providing limitless possibilities. Yet I was. I tried something with some tropical plant fronds, but it felt too much like someone else's work I saw earlier in the day. I guess the problem was that all my thoughts are on my personal project. I still need to remember to draw other things too.

Once I went back to the Re-cycler Squirrel post from 2 weeks ago, I decided to delve more into his story. What made him the way he is? Why does he travel around re-purposing trash? I also really wanted to do a more dynamic pose then 'just standing there', so it started with him perched on the edge of the cliff, then I needed to give him something to be staring at. Obviously, since he's a nekkid squirrel, this is before he acquired all his accoutrement.

5 comments:

k.h.whitaker said...

this is lovely

Susan said...

Love your idea and the perspective on this! Saw your earlier post about your book - it's interesting how we look at it from completely opposite angles! I'm writing and illustrating a book too, and my whole blogsite centers around it. I won't be posting exact text and drawings for the book, but I talk about it all the time and post studies and ideas. My feeling is I get more motivated setting public deadlines for myself, and I also thrive on other's feedback. I'm also hoping to drum up interest too, so when the book is done I'll at least have some people already interested! The publishing industy has been changing drastically over the last few years, so I don't know how hard it will be to get it published, but I am expecting it to be immenseley difficult. If it seems like it's going to take years and years after I'm done with my end, I'm definitley going the self-publishing route. Good luck, Susan

http://susanbethstudio.blogspot.com/

Susan Mitchell said...

I like this a lot. Great perspective and tension - do you think you might paint it?
It would be lovely to see how it looks in colour :)

NightenGail said...

I may create a finished piece for this little squirrel. Since I've decided no to post work progress on my current children's book project, I still want some sort of project to post for everyone to enjoy. Currently, I've received great feedback on the two squirrel posts I've had and they've been fun to work on, so I may continue in that vein. It could be my public 'world' to build and share with everyone. I'm also going to be trying a project with my husband, where he gives me a scenario or a sentence and I have to develop an image with a pre-determined character, placing him/her in new situations, working on both scenes and expressions (squash and stretch are frustrating), what I feel are two of my weaknesses in drawing.

dolls like us said...

I love the back woods and camping that is where you are taking me with this adorable little squirrell.