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I spent the last three weeks in my studio drawing and painting for countless hours. It was important for me to complete these three illustrations for a fellowship that I applied for.
These illustrations are based on the idea that I had a year earlier. You can see my earlier five sequential images here . Those first images were criticized as overpainted, muddy, and too complicated. The narrative wasn't extremely exciting either. I did love the melancholic quality of that series, but unfortunately, that's not what children's book publishers are looking for.
The idea of rusty animals was pretty interesting though, so I decided to give it another shot. I'm constantly trying to simplify my work and painting technique, as advised by many art directors. I especially try to simplify the backgrounds, and I actually think it works better this way. It allows the viewer to spend more time looking at the main characters.
I made the main character a little younger than in my character studies.
A deadline is the best inspiration for sure. You make decisions fast and leave the doubts for later, when you are already done with the project.
