My first thought for the word 'Vocal,' which is this week's "Illustration Friday" challenge was of someone singing or yelling. When I sat down to start sketching I began to draw a little boy. During my lunch break, just prior to beginning this drawing, I had watched an early episode of "The Andy Griffith Show," and my drawing ended up looking like Opie Taylor as played by a very young Ron Howard. When I realized I was turning him into Opie, I googled the character and came up with a reference photo of Opie singing (or maybe he's yelling, though I don't recall too many episodes where Opie yelled). Anyway, I used the photo as a guide for the mouth, but as you can see I made some changes. I gave my boy, a gap in his teeth and I decided to have his eyes open. I also turned his head slightly.
Below are a couple of early pencil sketches. As I worked on the image, I decided the composition needed something else so I added a dog, which I based on a photo of my own dog, Poppy. The pencil sketches, as well as the finished illustration were done using Painter 12.
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| First sketch |
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| Sketch after some clean up and shading |
