Illustration Friday: Asleep

"Shhh! The Birds Are Sleeping...."

is the name of this week's pic.

Most of the time, I'm very anal and perfectionist about drawing. I always want everything to be just so and will spend hours labouring over every inch or pixel. And then almost always dislike the outcome, because of working so hard and ending up with something other than what I envisaged.

So, this week was an exercise in freedom and simplicity. I came up with a concept which I could draw without worrying with the usual (Is the perspective correct? Does that look like a hand? Does it need shadows? and so on and so on). I wanted something quick, clean and simple.

Well.... turns out, over four hours later, it wasn't as quick and simple as I'd wanted!
I got enormously involved with smoothing out lines, and redrawing shapes so they were a little bit nicer than before, even though I told myself there would be no re-drawing.

When you are a child, you draw something and you know what it is. If you watch a small child draw, they are often so decisive and know exactly which scribble needs to go where. Its a wonderful method. And, whilst I'm not attempting to emulate a child's drawing (because its not possible), I wanted to try and recapture some of that feeling. I took a cue from the way children focus on details rather than overall form or shape - so a bird will have a beak and wings, but might well not be bird-shaped, or have any other features.

I think its easy to see which ones I drew first, and which ones were the later creations, more free and loose.

Illustration Friday: Safari

Initially, I was dead keen on the idea of a balloon full of giraffes with cameras going over a city - which would allow for kooky perspective, plenty of little visual details to explore, and the chance to hang accessories around giraffe's necks at various heights . I knew from the off I'd struggle with that, though. Which isn't really a reason not to do it, but I decided to pour my effort into something which is more 'me'.
And so, this.
The tiger is from the olden days - an IF topic of 'Wilderness' - and I loved drawing it and was pleased with the result. So, I thought I'd revisit it and make a little triptych.

My main complaint is that the crocodile looks much more graphic/cartoony than the zebra or the tiger, due to the heavy dark outlining. I wanted to go for a contrast in texture - from scaly smooth, to short fur, to thick and hairy. I'm super-pleased with each piece individually, but I think old Mr Croc is just a bit too disparate in style.

Oh, and yes I'm aware you wouldn't see a tiger in the same place as the other two........

Illustration Friday: Beginner

Its interesting how often you see people making like harder for themselves, just through not relying on their own ability to overcome the task at hand. I'm definitely one of them.

A very labour-intensive offering for this weeks IF topic. There is a lot wrong with it - the pattern on his pantaloon-thingies, both his hands, his tiny tiny legs, and more besides.
That said, its not very far off from what I ahd in my head and I'm pleased because of that, and because its not a usual sort of drawing for me.