Hello! It has been a surprisingly productive week back and I am feel optimistic about the semester! I have already started in on some projects I am excited about. In the chaos of settling into a busy last year, I still have a few things to get into place before I can get proper photos of my work. Until then, I had one last project from the end of the summer that was completely unrelated to school and was strictly just a project that made me happy to do for myself.
I am not a particularly social butterfly but I enjoy scrolling through Instagram and enjoying a relatively uncluttered gallery of independent illustrators. I like the original character designs and the unique styles, and I’m often intimidated by the digital artists who make their art look effortless. Recently, one of the artist I follow offered an image for a “draw this in your style” challenge. I was intrigued by the note that the submissions needn’t be digital and I thought it would be a nice exercise in making some time for my own art heading into classes.
The Netherlands based illustrator goes by Can of Worms Art of Instagram and a few weeks ago they posted this:
I had fun with this and it was a relaxing expenditure of my time especially as I balance my school obligations. Here are a few photos of my drawing process to replicate the challenge image:
While I still need to add the dialogue bubbles to the final final piece, this is the digital edit I felt best represented my work as an illustrator and my more subtle use of digital tools for my work. I still want my work to feel a little raw and sketchy but I like the ability to be able to fine tune even a pencil drawing into something the is graphic but still feels like my own work.
It was especially fun to use another artists work as reference. There’s a Rosetta Stone je ne sais quoi about directly comparing the same image done by multiple artists. One finds context for their own illustrative shapes and visual language. The biggest difference I found between the original image and how I approached my initial drawing was posture of the figures and how I struggle to give my people much character in how they stand or move, they feel a little static next to the more playful stance of the figures from the original. Though in general, I am happy with the way I define form in my more cartoonish work and like any opportunity to evoke some of the sensibilities of the illustrators I grew up loving.
I cannot wait to post what I’ve started working on on-campus! Good luck to all and I hope it was an excellent first week back!
What’s Playing – This is a gear shift but this song has been stuck in my head for a little while now and it feels like a good excuse to draw some more characters: Colter Wall – Big Iron
