Welcome to 2013! Looking through my portfolio a few weeks ago, I realized that it is almost exclusively animals. This wasn’t a conscious choice, it just sort of happened. I love animals and enjoy drawing them, but I also enjoy drawing humans, so I decided that I needed to focus on adding some humans into the mix. To that end, I sketched up a little kid watching a butterfly:
After drawing this sketch, I spent about a month doing other things, so by the time I came back to it, I could definitely see it with fresh eyes. I decided that this child should probably be a girl so I added some longish hair and a scarf. I also made the butterfly smaller
While planning the colors, I decided that because the girl was wearing a coat, it must be early to mid autumn. I tried to make the grass a bit drab-colored, the dandelions have gone to seed, and I made the girl’s cheeks a bit rosy as if she’s been out in a brisk wind. I then made the butterfly itself a very vivid blue and green to help it to stand out against these muted colors. I liked the idea that a butterfly would be more rare at this time of year, which adds a bit to the girl’s look of satisfaction in seeing it. I played around with some sky colors and clouds, but ultimately I liked the simplicity of just the girl and the butterfly best.
Thanks for reading!