My take on the classic iconography.
Four years ago, a contest went out to members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators:
Create a picture depicting the age old fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood.” We were encouraged to add any new takes to it we wished, from modernizing the setting to swapping the roles. And to top it all off, the challenge was going to be judged by the late great Tomie dePaola.
My immediate thought was, what if it wasn’t her hood that was red, but her hair? I worked out a few sketches, and was ready to jump into the project when I was suddenly sidelined by my auto-immune disorder. Three weeks in the hospital, and never really recovered since, this, as did many other projects, fell by the wayside.
Recently, I’ve been trying to hone in my digital painting style. I acquired some new fancy brushes that I’m really getting into. When I stumbled upon the abandoned sketch, I decided to use it as an opportunity to challenge myself as an artist. I focused on my weaknesses.
First, little girl’s faces. Always seem to give me troubles. Second, limited color palettes that work. I either tend to be all over the place, or my limited palettes can sometimes clash. And finally, could I produce a digital painting without heavy reliance on the use of line? Most of my digital work is reenforced by strong pen and ink. It works well for me, but I can sometimes use it as a crutch.
I worked on this off and on for a few weeks until I was satisfied. I feel I was successfully able to check off all the boxes. My Little Red Riding Hood is a naive red-head in a wintery landscape. Wolf character is as, well, what you would expect the wolf character to be.
I suppose it isn’t ground-breaking or super out of the box thinking, but it was a success for me, and I’m very happy with how it turned out, especially considering my circumstances. Now sitting on my desk is a sketch I created of Ray Bradbury’s “The Rocket,” that I hope to illustrate next, in exactly the same style. Stay tuned for that…
