Bear and whale
This piece was commissioned late last year. The brief was... well, brief - two animals, a polar bear and a whale; call me when it's done. Initial thumbnail sketches scoured the cerebral wrack line for curios. One of the early scribbles hit on something that felt right. A few versions on the idea were tweaked out before they were all rejected; there was something in the raw scribble that was talking.
A lot of re-working on layers of tracing paper happens to get the lines right. A copy was then transferred to watercolour paper and then outlined again with dip-pen and ink. This was then scanned and a drawing tablet helped bring the image to life by deepening the outlines and adding layers of colour.
I wasn't sure if some of the subtle colour shifts for the shadows and reflected light would translate to the final print. I was stoked with the result when I called in to collect it from the printers and the client was delighted.
![Bear & whale process](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0029/4823/5373/files/Bear-whale-processes.jpg)
![Bear and whale](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0029/4823/5373/files/Bear-and-whale.jpg)
![Detail from Bear and whale](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0029/4823/5373/files/DSC_0071.jpg)