Kids...

[smceccarelli]

Two days into Inktober and already getting painting-withdrawal symptoms. So spent a miraculously kid-free Sunday afternoon doing Kid No 12 - a companion piece to the snail boy.

[smceccarelli]

Something was disturbing me, and now looking at it in small I think I know what it is - there is a disbalance of value contrast between the boy and the mushroom - the boy has a broader value range. I will look into either crunching his value range or expanding the mushroom one - whichever looks best - before closing this one.

[Kevin Longueil]

@smceccarelli Your Children series is looking so great! i love the lighting you are doing in the snail pieces also - this latest piece looks really nice to me - the thing that strikes me is that the space to the left of the mushroom is nearly equal to the right - my thought was that the value range might be just right at the moment on the mushroom so it does not become a focal point competing with the boy but reduce the visual weight of the left side of the composition and the mushroom by doing a quick crop - just a thought - these pieces are really looking great!

[smceccarelli]

@Kevin-Longueil You are right - there is a misbalance and the space on the left is too uninteresting. I was thinking about a place for text actually. Not sure it works. Your crop looks really good - I will play with that before deciding wether to include in my portfolio or not! Meanwhile I have adjusted the value ranges and I am happier! Here is a before and after..

[Camomilla]

Your children are gorgeous Great expressions and beautifully rendered snail! Your understanding of light, value and colour is something I hope to have a better understanding of myself one day.

[evilrobot]

WHAT.....this is ridiculously good! Really cool piece.

[smceccarelli]

Kid No 13 underway. I am trying hard to navigate the fuzzy line between unfinished and overrendered...and the only result is that I sink in a sea of doubts. But I know the secret treasure is somewhere on the other shore! I think this needs a little bit more polishing and finishing...but not too much....any thoughts or floating helps?

[smceccarelli]

Kids no 13, 14 and 15. I think working in small series of related characters is turning out to be a very good learning exercise. Ideally I would like to make a full bleed illustration at the end of each series, but time is often a problem. Now I am starting on some Halloween-related images.

[Dulcie]

@smceccarelli Beautiful work...those feathers on the most recent one look so real! Really soft and fluffy...love the idea of the little girl nestled in the horse chestnut casing too, it's unconventional but looks very comfy!

[smceccarelli]

16 and 17 - getting Halloween-y

[mattramsey]

@smceccarelli these are beautiful

[Rebecca Hirsch]

@smceccarelli This last one should be in your portfolio, no question. Absolutely gorgeous work, and fun!

[natiwata]

@smceccarelli I haven't been on the forums for a couple weeks, so much good stuff on your thread! What a wonderful display of both your strong drawing and painting skills! It's a great reminder that a good painting/illustration begins with a solid drawing. This one of the pumpkin head is so fun, what a great sequence. Very inspiring!!!

[Rich Green]

@smceccarelli All of your kids are amazing - but I really love the sequence of the little pumpkin head chasing the bat. It is so fantastic!

[smceccarelli]

The last two Halloween Kids (18 and 19) and a new one I did yesterday (no 20), where I wanted to try out digital pastels - which I am liking a lot, and will probably go through a series of these "November fairies" with digital pastel - reconnecting with my second favorite traditional medium...

[Lydia M]

Ohhhhh I love the girl with flowers on her head! Did you ever finish the swimming pool kids?

[amberwingart]

@smceccarelli Omg these are my favorites so far!

[amberwingart]

@smceccarelli You're a master of character design - I love the girl with the flowers in her hair too! And the witchy girls!

[smceccarelli]

@Lydia-M Unfortunately not - I have a pile of drawings that need re-working and/or just need to be brought to paint, or paintings that need to be re-done, and it sits there in good company....;-)

[smceccarelli]

@amberwingart Thank you! So far this experiment is doing exactly what I hoped for - I am learning a lot, eperimenting with different rendering styles and getting a couple of vignettes as well as a couple of children for my portfolio (both were missing so far). What I am not managing that well is to also work on some full illustrations featuring children. I had hoped to do one every five or so, but the time commitment is too big.
Thank you for your compliment :-)) I am not a master of character design, but I enjoy doing that so much that my portfolio is skewed and I see this as a potential issue. I definitely need to do more full illustrations and less character work This project is like an escape valve where I can keep doing characters while I try to work on more substantial things....