Adam's Dream - Sketch

While waiting on moving forward with the portrait piece I started to draw this one yesterday. My thought process was like usual. Start with a object/being and then build a story around that. I wanted to do something in regards to Illustration Friday, but the word "Shaky" just wasn't inspiring me. A friend of mine who is expecting was going to commission me to draw a piece for her nursery. Tho that is still something we want to do, now is not the time. So that inspired me.

I started with a little boy on a giraffe. Loved the drawing, but just didn't know where to go with it. Do I put him in Africa? Do I just make it about the boy and giraffe? Or do I put more around them? I wanted to make a story out of it. I went ahead and made the piece 10x8, which gave me a lot of space to problem solve. Now what do I do with the space? I added a castle (Edinburgh Castle to be exact...loved Scotland), but that didn't make sense with the cowboy accessories and the giraffe. The story continued to grow.

I then decided to add the unicorn and a wooden sword on his back. The story started to take shape. This little boy is in a dream, filled with things he loves. The little cowboy (probably fell asleep with the cowboy boots and hat on) mounted the giraffe for a safari, when that adventure was over they walked along the landscape and came to a castle where the boy became a cowboy knight and befriended the magical unicorn, now they're moving onto the next adventure.

The piece was still lacking. What time of day was this dream taking place? It's a dream so anything is possible. There is a large full moon, but the colors in my head are magentas, purples, and blues. The foreground is as if the reader is looking into the dream of this little boy. And of course, I thought it'd be fun to add a fairy knight and some fireflies to add interest and more possible storyline.

Portrait Sketch

My current project is an interesting one. I was given an old photo from the late 1920's/early 1930s of a little girl. The client wishes I redraw the girl and paint it for Christmas. What's interesting is the photo is very old, and difficult to determine what is what in some places. Especially in the face. Photos in that time period were very strong in contrast, and it's difficult to see details. A lot of guess work. Also I enjoyed Googling that time period. Found a lot of beautiful photos of children in that time. To respect my client I am going to keep the photo private, but here are some others similar to what I'm working on of children. These are a bit more clear than the photo for this project.

YWAB - More Paint

Some more paint has finally been added to this piece. The last two weeks have been getting the wedding invitations finished and mailed. And by golly, they're mailed! So I spent a few hours on the piece yesterday and plan to have it finished by the end of the week (no reason not to).

Its now time to get into the details. After establishing all of the basic colors of the piece it's time to get into working up the color, layers, and popping out contrasts. Almost there! :D

Summer Breezin'

You could win this original watercolor ACEO!

The raffle is still on! For every print on my Imagekind gallery you purchase your name goes into a bowl. If you purchase a print between now and tomorrow, Midnight (central us time), you could win this original 2.5 x 3.5 painting titled "Summer Breeze".

Go to my Imagekind gallery now to see what's available. All sizes are included! If you buy three, your name goes into the bowl three times, and so forth. Don't miss out!

Go now!