The Wayfaring Wordhack

 Nothing like an entry that comes almost a month late. 

I finally finished fiddling with my Inktober sketch about a week ago but forgot to post last week.  Here is a comparison with the post-wash piece and the final version where I added the shadows.




The use of my camera flash on one version explains the color difference. Alas, there is still no nice photo in sight.

My take away from Inktober is that first and foremost, I absolutely loved doing the challenge. I like that I had decided from the outset what I would do and how I would do it. The not having to search for inspiration or my materials each day was such a pleasant way to work. No hassle and no stress suits me very well. Also, I had the THING to stick to, the personal commitment to a challenge, and that saw me through on this piece, even when Inktober ended. Once I finished the piece, though, I put all art aside.* Hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my neighbors mostly explains this complete standstill.

The just drawing-what-I-want-how-I-want had the downside of resulting in a sketch that lacks the coherence and believable depth it could have had. Without thinking more about composition beforehand, I sketched myself into several corners. I am not disappointed with what I accomplished, but it did serve to show me how important some forethought is. While I enjoyed sketching the way I did, I feel a bit paralyzed about starting pieces where I DO need to think things through. It just feels so tedious. Necessary, but tedious.  

Still, I need to step up to the plate and make it happen. My only other choice is to turn in my children's nonfic manuscript and let the publisher find an illustrator. I really want to ty to illustrate it myself before going that route, though.

While I was not at all thinking about my natural (comfortable) style while doing this piece vs a style that would be compatible with the kids' book, I do have the uncomfortable feeling that a more cartoony style is not in me. 

And that is enough rambling for now. 

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* I did spend almost an entire day yesterday trying to figure out a page layout in my MS that is giving me fits, so I have begun to work again. I just need to turn finishing this beast into a challenge of sorts, frex: figuring out how many illustrations I have to do and assigning a certain amount of time to each.

Do any of you have a way of setting targets for yourself that are both fun and efficacious?

 I didn't do my wash as planned, but, here, have a phone photo. This is some of the work I was able to do over the last couple of days :


I hope to do a write up about what I liked, what I didn't, what I learned, etc., and post the final in the next couple of days, but life has been really life-y these past few days, leaving me little time for what I want to get done.

here is a link to the other progress photos.

I know, I know. It is not Sunday, not even here in France.  However, I don't really like getting on the computer much on Sunday, seeing as how it is my day of rest. So now, I guess I will start saying Snippet Saturday.  I do hope to keep up with snippets of some kind after Inktober comes to an end. It is a manageable way for me to post, giving me some content that I don't have to think too much about.

This week's installment:



Sorry for the bluriness. I am always apologizing for my crap presentation, but I promise to make a better effort with the final.

The previous weeks:
( 3, 2, 1... )

I missed yesterday's snippet on account of being out of town (out of countryside?) for a family visit, so here is last week's Inktober effort, a day late:

I scanned as intended, but because my scanner 's screen is just shy of the paper's dimensions, I didn't quite get all of the image. What didn't make it on is not worth rescanning and frankensteining to get a full image. I'll do that with the final artwork.



Here is a link to the first week in case you want to see how I progressed.