Progress Report

On the plane ride back from Chicago, I had an epiphany about the latest illustration I've been working on.  She just wasn't translating as an illustration in reality as she did in my head.


Ugh!


My epiphany?


If it isn't broke, don't fix it.


When I got out of my own way and stopped trying so hard to will the illustration into being, the diva presented herself.   

Voila!  

I may still add a cat.  I'm not sure.  I'm actually leaning against the idea.

Sometimes an illustration can get too 'noisy'.  I don't want to have so much going on it loses its charm and becomes a mess.

At this point, if I add something, that means something has to go.  I'm going to polish up a few things in the next few days or so.  But for the most part, she's about done.

We'll see.  

What's important is I got the vibe I was looking for. I kept it loose.  I stopped worrying about proportions and logic and did full on whimsy . . . just like the first one that inspired her.

It's cool how sometimes the very best thing to do . . . 

 . . . is nothing at all.  

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Progress . . .

So the new illustration is still in progress.


So far it's gone from this:

To this:

She's still a draft.  I still want to incorporate a couple of ideas.  I'm leaning toward a cat.  Poodles are so typical.  

I want to give it some more energy.  I'm thinking the legs could be exaggerated for the energy I'm trying to capture.

However, I don't want to clean it up too terribly much.  It needs to stay loose and whimsical.  

I'll be visiting peeps and fam in Atlanta this weekend.  This will probably take longer than I originally planned.  But once I get my mind set on something, it gets done when it gets done. 

And it's always worth it!

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My Best Ideas Happen . . .

  . . . in the morning between my first and second cup of coffee.  


Did I mention my cup holds two cups of coffee?  So by the time I can see the bottom of my favorite coffee cup while sipping, if I have an idea, it's already scratched out in rough draft.


A recent conversation in my head went something like this:


What if I used the same 'Audrey's Martini' concept in different poses, with different props??


No!


Scratch that.


Same props but different pose.


 . . . and a dog!


No.


A cat!  


Wait.


A poodle?


Ugh.  


Just get a rough draft down for now.  I'm gonna be late for work!  


I grabbed my pad and came up with this rough draft:

Audrey rough draft 1 by Steven Hall/Doodle Divas

Audrey's Martini

Now the idea is at least down and I can play around with some ideas.  Rarely does the idea match the actual rough draft.  Rarely does the rough draft match the final illustration.


So between now and the next 24-72 hours, I'm gonna toss around some ideas and have a completed illustration.


My ideas:

• legs crossed at the knee versus the ankle
• poodle in her lap
• cat in her lap
• red sofa
• red background
• curled up in chair versus sitting

What do you think?  Like any of the above?  Have other suggestions altogether?  


Every participant gets entered in a drawing.  So one person can end up with the finished illustration, (matted, signed, plastic sleeve, etc), just for passing along an idea.  


Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted on the progress.  


nighty-night!  :-)

The personification of classic style has been managed by a scant handful and owned by just one . . . 

Audrey Hepburn.

She will forever be the Messiah of style!