As I discussed in my last post, this past Fall I was close to having enough strong pen and ink with watercolor images to fill my portfolio, and was trying to shore up the weaknesses that I perceived in the represented content, namely the lack of ethnic diversity among the humans. I created 3 images specifically to address this need, and this is the second of those images. I settled on a teenage boy who is enjoying some reading outdoors. I wanted to invoke the idea that this is occurring during his summer vacation, so I put him in a tank-top style undershirt, gave him a ball cap, and made him barefoot. Here’s my initial sketch:
I love to read outside, and I love going around barefoot, and I have those glasses he’s wearing, so I can see a lot of myself in this image. I think the wagon is probably a nostalgic, residual image from all the Calvin and Hobbes strips I’ve read, because, despite the fact that I didn’t personally do much with a wagon, I associate the idea of a wagon with summertime.
Once I had finished painting this image, I decided that the tall grass I had drawn around the stump was unnecessary and visually distracting, so I removed it with Photoshop. If I had it to do over again, I would probably make the stump a little darker behind the wagon wheel so that they don’t blend together as much, but overall I’m pleased with the result. Thanks for reading!