Friday, March 19, 2010

Hybrid Dogs





I'm working on a chapter book about a dog....a real mutt. He is a bunch of different breeds all mixed up into one adorable little package. Well, not really little, but not really big either. And let's see, he has a really wild tail and a big black nose. He's part dashchund, part collie, brittney spaniel, labrador, cadoodle, broodle with a little touch of terrier. Confused yet?

Well these were the directions I was given by the art director and the authors to create this funny character. I must say I had to look up broodle and cadoodle as I had never heard of them before. Let's just leave it to say that there is a poodle floating around in there somewhere!

After printing out photos of all the different breeds, I started sketching. There was a lot of back and forth with the art director, the marketing team, and the authors were very invested too. Unfortunately, I can't show you the winner, but I thought I'd post a few reject sketches that I kind of liked. The final dog chosen actually looks nothing like these reject sketches. So who knows, maybe they will show up some day in another project!

5 comments:

roz said...

What a challenging projected and you are so perfect for the task! These are hilarious. I can't wait to see the "real" Larry "stand up".
Haha, I'm sitting here trying to pick my favorite version which is silly because it's impossible.
But the second doggie down is sure pressuring me to give him a home. =o)

Lori said...

Hi Deb,
I love these. And yes...the 2nd dog is the one I gravitate to also. Although I have to say #3 looks like he is hilarious. I think it's the poof at the end of the tail, and his big smile! All very cute!

Alicia PadrĂ³n said...

WOW DEb!!! These are all so great!

I'm glad I'm not in the Art Director shoes because I wouldn't know which to choose. I love them all!

I think this loose line style is SO great!! I am loving each and every stroke, feels so free and fun. Lot's of humor in it too. This book is going to be beyond amazing. You are the perfect artist for this!!

Go Deb!!!!!

Unknown said...

Deb thanks so much for the show and tell! These look so great!! I love your gestural line - it is so alive and the characters are so full of life!

Can you tell us what your medium is here? Photoshop? Painter? I'm curious!!

Deb said...

Thank you guys for your nice comments.

In reponse to your question Kathy, I did very loose pencil sketches which I scanned into my computer. Sometime I use Painter for the black line, but for these I just used Photoshop and my wacom tablet. The inkline is on one layer. Sometimes I change the opacity on the line so it looks lighter and then I go over some of it with a blacker line. I then color it using the basic chalk brush. I love that brush because of it's texture and transparency.