Keeping things simple
...and why it isn't always a time saver.
Happy July friends,
Hoping everyone is well and enjoying whichever season it is you happen to be in.
Here is Australia it is Winter. Apparently.
I spoke to a friend of mine in Melbourne yesterday who said it was absolutely freezing (she’s from Scotland originally and so I trust her judgement).
Up here in the Tropics however, we appear to have had our one day of Winter for the year - it was last Saturday.
It was a magical day, 25℃/77℉ through the day with a drop to 12℃/53.6℉ overnight - I know, positively arctic.
I’m so pleased I bought all those jumpers with me from the UK.
<rolls eyes>
Anyway, today’s chat is not about the weather,1 today’s chat is about illustration… go figure?
It’s also a process share of sorts, resulting from a frustrating art session in which I lost three hours of my life and gained (imo) a terribly disappointing character illustration.
Here’s what happend.
A couple of weeks ago I was having a Winnie the Pooh inspired drawing moment.
I illustrated my favourite character: Eeyore
It was a lot of fun and whilst I did incorporate some handmade textures and brushes, he was created digitally, in a fairly short space of time, with minimal hassle.
So much fun was this quick and happy drawing session that I thought I might illustrate my second favourite character too, the adorable Roo *awwww*
And this, my friends, is where the problems started.
Lets go back to the beginning…
Sketching Little Roo was a fun exercise and resulted in a couple of cute poses that I thought might make nice vignette-style illustrations for my portfolio. I had decided by this point that I would lose the signature blue jumper and create a more generic kangaroo character, perhaps with some eucalyptus leaves…
…the sketching session had done its job. I was feeling inspired to create something new.
I selected a pose and pulled a photo of it into Procreate to use as a reference whilst I created my final sketch.
Cute huh?
I created the background leaves with a soft charcoal brush to rough out the shapes and then applied a couple of overlays from my carefully curated texture library (a disorganised folder on my desktop).2
The colours of the leaves and background were inspired by the many wonderful walks I have enjoyed through gum trees at sunset.3
Lovely! I thought. So far so good.
Until….
Now, it’s not that I think this character is terrible. He’s fairly cute. But he is not what I had imagined. I like his body but his head is weird. The teeth are weird. The eyes are weird, and the shading and overall texture is… you guessed it, weird.
It seems that despite having a pretty straightforward sketch to work from, his entire face has changed and is lacking in the charm I had originally envisaged for him.
After three hours of frustration (now remember, this was supposed to be a relatively quick and hassle free illustration) I had pretty much tried everything I could think of to salvage my little roo character.
I had every digital tool at my disposal and yet no matter how many things I tweaked, how many times I redrew a section or adjusted a facial feature. He just looked… weird.
And this stubborn refusal to give up happens doesn’t it. It’s the whole ‘sunk cost fallacy’, where you’ve dedicated so much time to a project you develop this irrational need to keep going.
Focussed on past investment you forget to take a step back, you forget your original intention, and forget that only you can save the situation, have a stern word with yourself, let go and move on.
I did share this little roo briefly to IG. Perhaps you saw him? I was interested to see what others would think of him and there were some sweet and kind comments (I have such a lovely bunch of followers). But after about an hour, I couldn’t stand it. I had to take him down.
It was no good. I didn’t like him, and that was that.
And so, what to do now?
Throw him onto the ‘terrible art pile’ and forget about him, or start again?
The terrible art pile is already pretty massive and besides, I really like those leaves…and so I’ve opted to start again.
I’m going to stop trying to tweak what I already have (it’s a futile endeavour) and I’m going back to where I started - a piece of paper.
As I write this I am eyeing up my paints and coloured pencils.
I think this little roo needs a non-digital makeover.
The result of which I will share in my next post =)
Until next time.
Caroline ✏️✨
RESOURCE SHARE for anyone who may be looking for some picture book focussed portfolio direction.
The wonderful Steph Fizer Coleman will be opening up her 12-week course ‘Lets Make Picture Books’ this September.
I cannot recommend this course enough for its content and resources, and the expert feedback of Steph and her wonderful co-host, who this time round is the amazing Holly Surplice =)
You can find out more about LMPB’s and Steph’s teaching platform - The Artists Greenhouse - here.
Steph also offers a FREE Children's Book Masterclass if you’d like to check out her teaching style before committing to a paid course.
Being British I am genetically predisposed to weather talk.
I have lots of random textures I’ve made or collected over the years, which I have scanned or photographed and then tweaked in photoshop to create brushes or keep as texture sheets. I tend towards my favourites but I am forever collecting more - it’s a sickness really.
Gum tree forests at sunset are beautiful places - gorgeous light and a magic quietness as the local wildlife peeps out at you from behind the trees.