FIPPLE FLUTIN'... |
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I think the inspiration for this
idea came from the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.
But, as unfair as it may sound, I wondered if a giant bug would
be very popular as a letter in one's name. The next logical step
(?) was for the bug to become a kangaroo. |
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| The
first sketch from the thumbnail. At first, I thought I'd put the 'roos
in band uniforms and have them playing band instruments. Then one
day I thought about having them playing recorders. Lots of kids probably
had a recorder as their first instrument, and they might relate more
to recorders than they would to band instruments. Hope I'm right. I did like the caption I had in mind for this illustration: Fanfare for Four (minus two). |
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Although
I basically liked this sketch, I didn't think a single recorder was
enough to fill the letter's form,
so I decided that both the mother's recorders should be positioned
somewhat like the joey's are. Originally, both animals had just one
recorder, but it didn't look right, so I added a second recorder to
each. For diversity, I had one of the mother's recorders facing you.
It needs to be more like the joey's. But the biggest problem was that
I couldn't use my caption. I was going to use just Fanfare
for 4, but, as you'll soon see, it lost out. When I was a kid, I had a recorder that looked something like what I've drawn. I looked all over for a reference photo because I wanted to get it right (it's been too many years to trust it to memory). I finally went to the dictionary, hoping I'd see an illustration. I did, but not the kind I wanted...it was the definition that I found very interesting. It said a recorder was a fipple flute. Here I am, doing an F and I've got fipple flutes (without knowing it, of course)! Plus, it sounds funny. Thus, to me, it was a done deal. The caption had to have "fipple flute" in it somewhere. Note: I had some trouble fitting the mother's ear in the corner...it's supposed to be standing straight up. So I put in the little bird to bend it over. |
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| You may have noticed in the last sketch that I had ditched the uniforms. I'd rather not dress them up unless the clothing helps to define the action or character (or if the coloring of the naked animal is too dull). I don't want to get too cartoonish (did I just hear a "Yeah, right!"...?). |  |
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The watercolor dye stage, same as always. | |
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The colored pencil step. There's nothing new here ...all the changes had been done in the sketching and drawing stages. |
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Acrylic paint added to punch up the whites and to heighten the contrast in places, but not too much this time around. It was 95% complete at the end of the pencil step...and 100% done several times in this step! After the second or third 100% done, I painted the background, something I don't often do. Usually the colored pencil is enough. I think it sets off the characters a little more than with the colored pencil alone. | |
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