Step by Step with Thumbnails

ITCHIN' IN THE KITCHEN...
	The original thought was of an otter using a backscratcher to scratch an Itch. As if you can tell this creature is an otter, or what it's doing, or what type of implement it has, or if there even is an implement. In the end, I thought an otter in a chef's hat was too much like the Table Tender I'd already done; plus, I had the idea of a dog scratching fleas as the source of the itchin', and an otter would be too small against a flea-bitten mutt. As I do so often, I used a bear in my initial sketches of the chef. The bear usually gets replaced, but this time, he stayed. He had the right size, the right shape...he was right for the role. Click on any illustration for an enlargement.
Sketchbook drawing with the fleabitten mutt. Because of past experiences, I was afraid the very sharp-looking fork tines would bother somebody, so I thought I'd better try something else. I worked up an alternate Itchin' in the Kitchen in which the chef was just scratching...no sharp fork. I took it into the colored pencil stage, but didn't finish it (you can check it out if you want). It just didn't seem to have that something...not as interesting as it could be...whatever. So I started over by going back to the beginning, back to the sharp tines. I figured I could hide the tips behind fur or material or something...no problemo.
	The final drawing, basically the same as what's come before, but I still wasn't satisfied. I liked the dog's leg in a blurred movement, but the chef was too static.
I blurred the hand and the fork, so now the tines would be less distinct. Thus, the sharp, forbidding fork tine problem has been solved. I thought the sharp elbow was too distinct and that it might be more fun to have the chef all wrists and elbows and scratching like mad.
	The colored pencil stage where most of the detail work is done, including some un-detail work (i.e., the blurring of detail to indicate extreme motion). I thought it would be funnier if the chef was scratching more furiously than the source of the scratching was scratching.
I refined everything with acrylics, and, after an eon of putzing, I called it complete.
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