The 100 Day Project halfway(ish) point check-in
A peek inside my character design sketchbook
The 100 Day Project is nearing its 60 day point, but I’m behind. I’ve missed a few days (three, I think?), so I’m on day 55. I totally forgot about my project yesterday, which was Easter Sunday. Well, to be honest, I remembered about it just before I turned off my light to go to sleep, and since my sketchbook was in the next room and my eyes were happily heavy, I let it go.
As I’ve mentioned before, my project for this year is to do 100 days of character design. Basically, my goal has been to break away from my tendency to draw what I see and learn how to draw stylized characters (especially animal characters) who look like they belong in a children’s story.
I’ve always admired illustrators who create (deceptively) simple stylized characters. Illustrators like Oliver Jeffers, Judy Horacek, and Christian Robinson. And for a long time now I’ve wanted to learn how to do that myself. So, I’ve tried. In the past 50+ days of drawing characters, I’ve tried designing many characters using very basic shapes who don’t look realistic or “correct.” And mostly, I’ve failed. The closest I’ve come to creating the kind of simple character I’m talking about is this little spotted dog:
He’s kinda cute, I guess. I keep going back to him to figure out his story. We’ll see. If I do anything with him I’ll definitely have to work on his facial expressions!
I came a little closer when I sketched this rat:
But I knew I was really onto something on day 43 when I tried drawing cows. I started by sketching out very basic shapes and gestures from some cow pictures I found online. Then I decided to focus on just the head. Suddenly I could see the basic shapes I needed for the foundation, so I tried not to think too much and just sketched it out, then gave the cow some surprised eyes. From there, I took it a step further and drew the grumpy looking cow at the bottom right.
And this is when I had an apostrophe.1 I mean, an epiphany.
I knew how to draw a cow face now! It was like I had just solved a puzzle, and I realized I could apply the same strategy to drawing other characters. So I practiced on other animals. A tiger’s face is shaped kind of like an octagon. A puffin’s (from the side, anyway) is kind of an almond. A rabbit? Sort of pear shaped. And a raccoon’s is a bit like a kidney bean.
I know that drawing a face from the front or the profile is the easy part, and I’ve still got a lot of practice to do so I can draw various kinds of characters from various points of view—something my snowman picture book dummy is also helping me to learn. But for the first time since I began pursuing work as an illustrator I feel confident about taking what I’ve been good at for years—realistic drawing—and combining it with my newly developing skill of stylizing.
I feel like I’m onto something, and I can’t wait to see what the next 45 days teach me!
Other updates
My poem I Think of Eden appears in digital edition of The Way Back to Ourselves Spring Journal: In His Garden. I hope you will read the poem and take some time to browse some of the work by other creators. You’ll be blessed!
I haven’t written as many poems during National Poetry Month as I had hoped. But here is a little one I wrote as part of the
Weekly Poetry Challenge. I wrote this one for riddle week:
Who am I?
On winged flight, I hunt at night
or in the evening’s failing light.
I keep a nest among the trees
in cozy nooks or cavities.
My hooting call is hard to miss,
so if you seek me, remember this:
I’m easier to hear than see,
but with luck you might catch a glimpse of me.
by Rebecca J. Gomez
You may be interested in reading my essay on why you should teach poetry to children, even if you’re not a poetry teacher (or a teacher at all) that I wrote for Read, Discuss, Do.
For National Poetry Month I’ve been reading a lot of poetry. And I discovered a book that combines two of my very favorite things: poetry and block prints! It’s a poetry collection titled Out There in the Wild: Poems on Nature by James Carter, Dom Conlon, and Nicola Davies, illustrated by Diana Catchpole. The publisher information says this book is good for ages 9-11, but I think the poems can be appreciated by a much wider audience than that! Whether you are an adult who enjoys poetry or you're looking for a good poetry collection to share with children, you can’t go wrong with this one, especially for nature lovers.
Great work!!
It feels great when something clicks like that. Your dog on his back paws reminds me of Alison Jay's illustrations... Very sweet! And I love your sad rat's posture and body language!