Hendrjk

Hendrjk

I created a character: Hendrjk. He loves stargazing, reading, puppetry, hiking and listening to his vinyl collection.

I used watercolor paper, PrismaColor colored pencils (black, white, blue, and red), and casein paint (cerulean)

At first I thought my character would be more like a gnome. But all of my initial drawings looked like Santa Claus and lacked originality. So then I settled on Hendrjk - based loosely on my husband :)

I spent some time looking at children's books, other illustrator's work, and, of course, Sarah's examples. I also drew a lot of stick figure sketches - trying to work out poses and ideas. Mark making, trying out different materials, and painting were also part of my process. I would add that taking time was very important. I needed to take time to think about what I really liked in my attempts and in other's work. Spending time reflecting on what looked right to me - and what looked quite wrong - was essential.

Here's my final effort. There are things I really like about it and areas I want to improve on. But it's finished now - time to think about my next character!