We're back! After a long hiatus, I have dusted off our sketchbook and it is in the mail to Raena in Texas! I am excited about the possibilities of this page. I have a definite idea as to where I would want the page to go, but I am going to keep my mouth shut. Because I need to see what Raena will do. Because isn't that the idea - feeding off of each other's creativity?
This is a very special sketchbook. When I pick it up, I am always a bit uptight, because I want it to be good work for Raena, and I know I don't want to mess up the page. So every time I am pushed to try to achieve extra quality. This time I based the picture on a "Creative Commons" photograph at flickr.
The smart thing to do might have been to draw on a separate page and use carbon or something (like I hear folks sometimes do), but I frankly don't know how to do that and I get a bit tired redrawing the same thing. I like the freshness of a first drawing. I did pencil it in first though. I started at the feet. Initially I was trying to measure visually to get everything just so. I concentrated so hard on the proportions that it was a mess. Finally, I just erased it and gave myself permission to sketch. And that is when the drawing worked. It doesn't look exactly like the girl in the photo here [It is a beautiful photo by Jonas Hansel of a Cambodian girl], but it works for the page, and that is what matters. This is what "adapted" and "derived" means. I toyed with changing the colors of the clothing, but I rather liked the feel of it, so I kept the colors the same. I was trying for a picture book-style feel.
Raena - So glad you're back! Hope you enjoy it, and can't wait to see what you do!
