This project really pushed me. I struggled for a long time with getting the composition and colors to where I liked them. There were parts I redid over and over til I reached satisfaction. Some projects come really together really smoothly. This was not one of those projects.
In hindsight I might have been putting too much pressure on myself. This project was a poster that I was creating for my Dad for Father's Day. I wanted it to look amazing and something he'd be proud to hang on his wall for years to come. On top of that I was trying to draw from memories of camping trips from my youth. When I looked at this I wanted to smell the scent of dust and pine. I wanted to hear ducks splashing on the water and feel the crisp morning air and steam rising off the lake. In the end, I put everything I had into this project, hoping I pulled off what I set out to do.
Below you'll find a rough sketch of the composition I ultimately went with. Even then I still refined and simplified parts and added a lot of detail on too it. I went through 4-5 different compositions before settling on this one.
Below is another composition I almost went with. My dad is passionate about biking so early on I was focusing on that. In the end I thought a Father-Son motif would be more appropriate for Father's Day.
My sketches tend to be very rough. I mostly am just looking for general concepts as I always change various parts up as I progress through a project.
Below is the above composition with the background details fleshed out. I generally work from back to front on an illustration, but do have a tendency to flesh out some details on a section, go to another section, then finish the original section.
I spend a lot of time looking at photographs for inspiration. For the trees I did roughly trace stock images of trees to try and get an accurate outline. Some trees were hand-drawn but I always think they look better traced. I also rely on photographs for colors as I'm actually slightly colorblind.
I hope you enjoy this project and I hope you enjoyed a look behind the scenes. Maybe one day I'll do a time-lapse of my work.
