So, this was my first pass at this theme, and while I liked the story for it, I wasn’t sold on the drawing. Frankly, it didn’t seem “me”. However, I’d gone far enough to where I thought I might show it as a reminder to myself that sometimes, things can be abandoned but are still worth keeping around.
Of course, the first thing my daughter asked was, “didn’t the drink actually make her smaller”? Um, yes, in fact it did. Think of it as poetic license…
You can see the second version (and it’s *really* different) over here. Is there one that you like better?
I think you’re right, that it doesn’t seem “you.” In fact, that was my first reaction to it. The part that I think does feel a little bit more you is the tag and its lettering. Interestingly, this illustration feels much more girly than your pug, despite a similar color scheme and style. Probably the whole “teacup” thing.
I like the giant – and I think the animation is cool – but it feels like the kind of illustration any one of twelve thousand illustrators could have produced. The last two IFs you’ve done (the pug and the moon guy) felt like the kind of illustration only one illustrator (uh, that would be you) could have produced, which I think is a big reason people are responding to them so well. Maybe the “giant” term didn’t inspire you visually quite enough?
Ha-ha! Yes, that’s exactly when I pulled the plug on this one, at “girly” (I’m going to catch hell for that one, so apologies). Otherwise, I’d have continued on as I liked the “Giant” theme and think doing some spin on the Alice story could have been nice + interesting.
I do have to say… I actually like my giant skateboarder. I think it’s okay to develop different styles for different purposes. The pen+ink style I used for Alice would be absolute *hell* to animate (at least in the timeframe of an IF drawing). And, this week anyway, I wanted to try something different.
As usual, thanks very much for the honest critique. I’ll just go lick my wounds now…
I DO like the giant skateboarder, and I agree that it’s more than all right to have different styles for different purposes. I just didn’t find it to be as unique to you as your pen & ink drawings. One could easily say the same about my non-pen-and-ink stuff – it’s certainly much more typische (I love the German for that – so much snottier than the English “typical”) – but it doesn’t take twelve years to complete.
& I wouldn’t bother with honest critiques if I didn’t think the illustrator was worth the effort (and the honesty)
Oh this wonderful as it is brilliant. Great design and illustration.
I loved the Alice reference to the theme giant. Despite you saying it didn´t seem you, to me it looks like same recognizable style of your previous IF illustrations Paisley and Satellite.
Thanks Alessandra. Yes, it’s a little tough to explain, but while I think stylistically they are the same, I just felt like I was just drawing pretty objects, not actually making a complete illustration. Weird, I know, but there it is.
It’s nice to see different illustration styles from you, I like the giant and the lettering in “drink me”. Each is complete in it’s own way. Are you thinking that the cup and the pug look like spot illustrations? And if so, so what? There might be some over thinking going on here. Viva la girlie.
gimme, gimme. more. soon.
MJ…!