Although the contest is only freshly underway (quick, hurry and vote, they’re starting to circle!), I wanted to share my entry for this week’s Spoonflower fabric contest: SHARKS! I came up with not necessarily the most riveting concept (although I find it wokka wokka elbow-nudgingly funny: hammerheads of varying types with rusty nails as tiny fish prey…) but I’m most pleased with my drawing level at the moment. Any fellow artist knows, you have your good days and you have your bad. One day: ‘Yes, sure, I’ll gladly draw you a smattering of hands and feet! In perspective? No problem!“ Other days: "Isn’t this the best wiggly I’m-not-currently-riding-the-subway-but-this-sure-looks-like-I-am pencil line?” And because I’ve been wanting to take a rest from designing on my computer, I’ve been doing a lot of drawing lately which all starts to add up very nicely if you keep the ol’ arm well-oiled enough with continual practice.
So with pencil lucidly in hand, I started drawing and ended up with two totally different designs. Main favorite (and the one I entered) went from pencil to being inked on tracing paper and finished with watercolors painted on the back. I knew I wanted this look but hadn’t anticipated how wrinkled the paper would get. Luckily, scanning and silhouetting each element eliminated any of those wonky crinkly bits. After finishing that, I decided I couldn’t just leave the other tiny foolish sharks in ghostly sketch form and so they made their way into another more goofy design. Two very different end results from the same basic idea. Who’da thunk!