A Quarter To Get You Out of That Water. IF Friday!

October 10, 2013

A Quarter To Get You Out of That Water. IF Friday!

    Yeah! It's Friday, Illustration Friday and this week's topic was UNDERWATER. I was pondering last weekend about what I would do for this topic. I REALLY DIDN'T want to illustrate a fish, or a personified fish or other aquatic life creature. I DIDN'T want to illustrate a Fantasy Beast like a Mermaid or a Sea Monster. And I DON'T really do landscapes too often, so Seascapes were out, too. So I was really kinda running out of options of what to do. Then it hit me....

     My partner and I are about 10 years apart in age, and what this means is that he will say stuff sometimes, phrases and figures of speech common to his generation but not always to mine. I tend to get caught off guard and laugh, not at him, but at the way he phrases something; a way I was certainly not expecting to hear. And one of my favorite things he says form his era ;0) inspired my solution for this week's challenge.

"If You Give Me A Quarter, I'll Get You Outta That Water."

      This would be said to people wearing "highwaters," which are pants that fit in the waist but are FAR TOO short in length, resulting in a very humorous fashion faux paux. My original concept was to illustrate a set of Strangers waiting at a bus stop. the illustration would only show from their shins down to their shoes basically.

I was going to create Characters of sort, each set of legs wearing different pants/skirts/stockings that would definitely allude or evoke that particular character's personality. I had planned a businessman, a woman in a skirt, a man in jeans and tennis shoes, a young school age girl and of course, the subject of the illustration, Mr. or Mrs. High waters. They would be emphasized not only by their high seems in their pants but also by their socks. Their socks would be the key to my concept. They would have drawings of fish and other UNDERWATER creatures on them, completing the concept of being "underwater," so to speak.

I had planned out the composition in thumbnail form and actually researched and sketched out my other Characters fr this piece, however, I ended up having to abandon the idea of having other characters. When I began drawing out my "final sketch" of the illustration, I realized that all the wonderful ocean life sock details would be muddy and very very small in the composition I had originally planned. This would basically defeat the whole purpose of the illustration, to highlight the socks and the illustrations on them, and many would overlook the most important part of the illustration. So I cut out the other characters and focused on Mr. or Mrs. Highwaters as the sole and only element in the illustration. This change would allow for the socks to be much larger, allowing for the viewer to enjoy the delicious details that are the focus of this piece.

The only other elements I allowed to stay was the water puddle, of course, and the umbrella that the business man was going to have. Now our Subject owns the umbrella instead. These were both planned elements that also reference the weeks topic. Who doesn't feel a bit submerged and Underwater on a messy rainy day.

On another note, when I was doing my reference research for this piece, I came across this funny E-card. He he he. It made me smile, because the colorful and fun nature of my illustration this week, makes me want to party and dance (maybe. I'm not a very good dancer.)

As always I have included some sketches and work in progress shots. Hope you enjoy them. have an AWESOME-AWESOME Friday, stay out from under the water and always keep a spare quarter handy to bail a good friend should you see their feet "sinking" into fashion madness.

until next time,
Keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing and most important of all, keep making art.
Cheers,
LEWIS