...One night, as my shift was winding down-- all work finished and sent to the page designers-- I went through some old, cast-aside emails and saw that our department had received an illustration request. I was on the brink of my weekend and there was only 40-ish minutes left before I'd be committing to the commute. I was disappointed because illustrations have been becoming rarer of late, and I wouldn't be able to take it on with so little time.
...The illustration was to accompany a story exploring the social boundaries of crying, brought on by the many (over?)reactions to Hillary's New Hampshire weeping-- who can do it when and get away with it-- that kind of thing.
...I thought I'd see what I could do before going home. I concentrated on the implication that men who cry in public are seen as sensitive, and the women are perceived as manipulative and did this:
...I went with a very simple cartooning style and did a swift thumbnail in photoshop before tracing it in illustrator. Then I went back to photoshop and applied the color.
...Not too bad for a quick draw-- not quite on target and the character designs could use be refined, but it's okay. Well, the woman should have a sinister expression of some kind in order to stick to the premise, I suppose.
...As I finished it up and got ready to head out (still had enough time for a quick game of Galaga, too!), I saw that one of the other artists had claimed the job. Oh, well. Nobody will ever see this drawing then... except you, that is.
The End.
...
It's a shame that the handlebar moustache has gone out of style in the mainstream. I think they'd look just as striking poised above a business suit as they do above the body of today's aging biker. The bow-tie doesn't need to come back, though.
Head Sketchbook Project revistited:
...I drew all of the elements on separate layers and put it together over the course of a day and a half. As usual, this was not the only project I was working on during that time-- several daily duties absorbed most of my attention-- so it was created in brief, stop-and-go spurts-- not the ideal way to work, but in the short-staffed world of the newspaper biz you take what you can get.
