Today I present a simple monk and a frog he found. For this one, I decided that I really wanted to do a simpler coloring style than with the images I’ve posted up previously. While learning to use watercolors, I was initially attempting to emulate the style of an illustrator named Peter de Seve, however, it became clear to me that I wasn’t really ready to try to emulate his style of painting. I still like his style a LOT, but I decided that it would probably be better to get a handle on a simpler style of coloring, and then maybe move up.
This image began as a little doodle sketch I did one night. I try to make time to just draw and let my mind wander, in the hope that I’ll find a spark of inspiration in one of the doodles. In this case, I drew a bald guy with glasses who sort of looked to me like the Dalai Lama, so I gave him what I thought looked like Tibetan monk’s robes (I later discovered that I was way, way off), and drew him holding a frog because of the reverence with which they tend to give nature. Here is that first doodle, quickly inked with a ball point pen:
Upon review, I realized that his arms were too long, and his legs were too short. I also decided to give the frog a smug look instead of a disgruntled look, as if he’s now used to being carried around by this monk, and is pleased that he’s found what he considers to be “the sweet life.” I redrew this image to incorporate these changes, and liked the results a lot more. I then did some google image research to see what Tibetan monks wear, and discovered that the fabric is wrapped around the body much more than I had drawn it, and there was often a big piece that draped down their front which would provide me the opportunity to put in a lot of interesting wrinkles and folds, so I updated his clothing. Here is my pencil sketch:
