Why do I do this? I thought about how to illustrate this story of a city council meeting. Of course, I thought about illustrating an entire council chamber with all kinds of people and murals on the walls. No, I can't just illustrate Bartholomew, or a few people, I have to illustrate an entire chamber full of people. Could I take the easy way out sometime? Can I just write a short story and that's it? No, I have to write stories and illustrate them and animate them and put them in a big project involving many other people.
I started illustrating the story by pencil sketching out the large shapes and composition while ignoring the people. After laying in the large shapes I created a sense of the rows where the people are sitting. When I started inking the drawing, I had not yet created the people and their personalities. I let that happen as I inked.
I then began to watercolor the drawing. The coloring took an under painting, a solid top coating and then final touch-ups to unify the piece. On each half of the illustration I had one person who I was avoiding. I don't know why, but I left one person on each half until the end. On the right side, it was the woman in the front row, fourth from the bottom. On the left, it was the man in the yellow and brown striped shirt and jacket.
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| I enjoyed painting the patterns of the wood grain, carpet and some clothing. |
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| Close up of right side |
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| People on the left side of the illustration |
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| A couple council members |
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| Grandpa (left) is a tribute to Mad artist Don Martin |
I don't know why Claire is painted the way she is. I think she is sneezing.
Well, I hope you enjoy this illustration and the rest of the story that is published this coming Friday at
The Book of Bartholomew.
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