Illustration Friday - Proverb

This week's word for 'Illustration Friday' is "Proverb," and I must admit my first reaction on reading it was, "Oh no!" There were just too many possibilities, how could I choose? Seeing the word 'Proverb,' my first thought was of the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, but I really didn't feel up to illustrating something from the Bible (besides, not knowing the Bible, I'd have to do some research). As I let the word simmer in my brain, I started thinking of old sayings that I could remember and the first one that came into my head was "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Right away, I felt that this one might have illustration possibilities, so I began to think of potential scenarios that I could create using this proverb. My first idea involved a cat. After all, what animal is known for catching birds? And I'm sure any cat who had one bird, would much rather have two. As I thought about the image I wanted to create, I decided I wanted to make this humorous, so I thought about switching the roles of the hunter and its prey. I felt a giant monster bird holding a cat in one hand and contemplating whether or not he should try for the two cats in the bush might be a funny take on the old saying. So that's what I sketched out.

I was happy with the sketch I came up with, but before I began painting it, I began to think of another idea. Maybe I should back up a bit and explain what got me thinking about an alternative image. This week I got a new dog. I had been without a dog for the last three years and I am overjoyed to finally have one again. I've been spending a lot of time with her this week, getting her settled in and starting on her training. So, with dogs on my brain, I began thinking it would be nice to do an image that was dog related. After googling dog proverbs, I found one that was perfect for how I was feeling, "Happiness is a warm puppy." It's a proverb that was popular when I was a teenager back in the seventies and it was written by the great Charles Schulz. So I did a second sketch and decided to submit two entries for this week's challenge.

After drawing this initial image of a boy holding a puppy, I decided to expand the image a bit and show a mother dog sitting and watching the boy cradle her little pup.

Here is the final painted image. Both this image and the one of the monster bird (see above) were painted using Corel Painter 11. I primarily used the watercolor brushes (New Simple Water) and a modified leaky pen brush, but I also added a few touches with the gouache brushes. The only changes I made between the sketch and the finished piece were to the boy's face.

So, for a word that I was initially reluctant to work on, I came up with two illustrations. Maybe an occasional "Oh no!" is a good thing.