Christmas pageant follies thumbnails (WIP)

IanS

I like the baby pov.

LauraA

Thanks @IanS !

NicolaSchofield

Stubborn camel 2 & climbing robe were the two I was initially drawn to.

xin li

I really love the energy of these thumbnails. I like a lot of them. particularly Escaped camel, and Climbing robe.

LauraA

Woohoo! That's two votes for the same one! Thank you for your comments, @neschof and @xin-li.

Jessica Mercado

I'm impressed by the creativity. I agree the baby climbing the robe is a real stand-out composition. Very unique and lovely lines. I love the idea of a crawling/climbing baby Jesus

I'm also intrigued by the person camel scene. I think that could be really funny for kids--seeing human legs on a camel. Like a trick on the eyes.

Great job

LauraA

Thank you everybody! The robe it is, at least for this year. Today I'm working on studies of baby Jesus and wisemen. There may be some options for poses. I'll post some roughs soon.

Rachel Horne

It must be hard to choose, there's so many great images in there! I love 45,33, 34, 2, 36 and Angel Delivery but I'm not sure that's going to help you much!!

LauraA

Thanks @Rachel-Horne! I'm working on the one where Baby Jesus is playing with the magus's robe, but I'll keep those in mind for future images. I hope to do more of these next year. One thing I've learned so far--start before December, because it's a short month with all the holiday preparations!

Hope to post roughs in about an hour. I have three choices of those, too!

LauraA

Rough sketches--1, 2, or 3? I forgot the haloes in 2.

I haven't done the values yet. I am thinking about using a similar spot background, but will try to make it work with the characters. The ones I have now are mostly to see the silhouettes.

Obviously there's still a lot refine, and I have less than a week left, so your input is appreciated!

If I do #1, I am going to wrap a blanket around something to get the folds right. There's a spatial problem, a needed twist somewhere. But I rather like the concept of Baby Jesus needing a nap and using the magus's cape as a blankie.

Thank you!!

Nativity scene with magi 1.jpg

Nativity scene with magi 2.jpg

Nativity scene with magi 3.jpg

TessaW

I personally like 2! It has a really nice flow, and I think it's a really sweet balance of interaction between all 3 characters. #1 reminds me of your rapunzel blanket piece.

LauraA

Thanks @TessaW! I was just sitting down to work this morning and was going to go with number 2. It's nice to have a confirmation! Just had to see them all drawn out to make sure I had explored everything.

I may take #1 at some point and make it just about a mom and a sleepy child. I really like it better cropped, since there is no eye contact with the magus.

Again, thanks for taking the time to reply!

Rachel Horne

@LauraA I'm sure whatever you choose will be great, there's so many goodies in there. And yes, definitely need to start before December. I always have so many projects in mind for the festive season and nearly always come at it far too late!

Rachel Horne

@LauraA Yes, number 2 is lovely.

LauraA

Any drawing or other corrections before I start with color? Two days left to work!

Naativity scene with magus texture.jpg

Suji Park

Lovely, but one change I would make is to make sure the baby looks younger and smaller than the two adults. Right now the baby looks too big compared to the size of the woman. So shrink the baby or size up the lady. Can't wait to see the finished piece!

LauraA

@Suji-Park Thank you! That was just the kind of thing I was looking for. Actually, the other two are older children, maybe 10 and 12. The girl has a longer face, as if she is starting to grow. Do they look like adults? If so, I'll take a look at that too.

Suji Park

@LauraA Oh I see! Perhaps it's a visual stereotype; when you put a girl next to a baby, you automatically think of a mother. I think the girl's sweet&caring expression made me assume that she is the mother. Now that I look again, they totally look like teenagers!

LauraA

@Suji-Park And this in turn makes me realize I need to include more clues that I am depicting a Christmas pageant, like homemade props, for example. I’ll think through that too. Thank you! Your fresh opinion is valuable because after a while I can’t see things objectively anymore.