Ease On Down the Road
This has been a painfully slow week as I wait on clients to provide me with feedback and files which means a) next week is going to probably be a considerably busier week* and b) I have to find things to do to keep myself occupied**.
*This is how it goes in freelance illustration: a quiet week usually means someone isn't planning ahead and I'm left to create work in a rushed timeframe to meet deadlines. Oh well, I guess that's the downside of doing the work I enjoy and having *some* control of my schedule...
**That may be why I've been able to reinvest in my blog writing - but I think it has more to do with being inspired!
A couple of weeks ago I posted that I'm trying to round out my portfolio - I'm still trying to snag a good children's book illustration gig and I'm using some of this free time to put together pieces to show what I'm capable of. Part of doing that involves finding inspiration wherever I can: walking around town, hanging out at Starbucks, watching a movie or tv show, or cruising around online. Yesterday, on of my former students posted a link to a web site featuring different artists' takes on The Wizard of Oz. That was what I needed!
In a matter of minutes I put together the following drawing and then I used the next few hours to brush up on my Photoshop techniques (with a couple of hours thrown in for dinner). The result is a piece I call, Dot:
She's no Judy Garland, but that was the point of the exercise - to get away from the typical look and create a new version of an iconic character... and for those keeping score, that's Glenda floating around in the air.
This isn't the first time I've done a take on these characters. A few years ago, I created an invitation to a Halloween party and I used The Wizard of Oz as my inspiration for that project, too. Here's the illustration I created featuring kids trick-or-treating dressed as the characters, circa 2006:
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