Dilly's bike picture isn't going anywhere, not surprising really it started off as an example to show the publishers of a kid on a bike do
I've put that on hold, might come back to it later. So last night I started on an Idea Ive wanted to do for Dillon and the
NCT kids
for a while,
they're all off to school soon so I wanted to do a picture of them all going off on their own little adventures. I struggled with the boats for a while though and this was the best sketch. However I realised I was guessing at angles and shapes again. This time however I stopped as soon as I realised to try and work out a simple form I could rotate into loads of angles. A big part of being a decent draftsman Ive recently been taught is to be honest with yourself if something
isn't looking right, it's taken me a while to get though.
so
here's a more simplified boat shape, I wanted the proportions to be cute and the shape to be easy to read, the fact that it
doesn't mimic a real world boat shape doesn't matter, it needs to be
naive and endearing. The fact that this also makes it easier to rotate in 3d space is a bonus! I'd say the top sketch and the bottom left and right ones are the best
wohoo had a whole hour to do what I wanted today! I managed to get the first pass of colour down, I want to keep it light and simple I find it more charming that way, and its satisfying to break some old game industry habits of adding lots of ambient occlusion and dark shadows to give soemthing form.
.. not sure about the positioning of the second one on the left though, will correct that in tomorrows free 30 minutes! 
Ok so I took that thumbnail from my last post that I was happy with and broke it down into a box with easily re-created landmarks for all the curves of the boat. I can go ahead and rotate it into any angle and make the boats seem like they are riding the waves. Hopefully this will be enough and I can get away without having to paint the water in as that will be a royal pain in the arse. hmmm maybe that means I should try and do it then, agh damn it!
so here's a more simplified boat shape, I wanted the proportions to be cute and the shape to be easy to read, the fact that it doesn't mimic a real world boat shape doesn't matter, it needs to be naive and endearing. The fact that this also makes it easier to rotate in 3d space is a bonus! I'd say the top sketch and the bottom left and right ones are the best
I met up with the art director at Random House last week so she could go through my portfolio and talk about doing a picture book, although I didn't walk away with a deal I did come away with some very usefull hints and tips, all in all quite positive. So I'm now working on this little chap, a character she spotted in my sketchbook and liked, I think. Going to work on a few more ideas around him and post them up as I go.
normally this kind of thing is a drag, but i really enjoyed doing this, mainly because the couple are good friends and lovely people but also they came to me with a clear idea, an image and wanting something a bit different. Folksy, festival, beer, hops and sunflowers. Looking forward to it!
Been bogged down with a new project for a kids TV show (annoyingly more work for which I have signed an NDA and so cannot post any of it) Finally got round to finishing this for a mate today though, a cover for a board game he's working on.
