A Bridge View Stroll

     I’ve got a collection of original artwork built up over the years that I hadn’t done anything with for a while.  There basically sketches & illustration of various quality from anywhere between two to 15 years old.  I had decided to try and make something of them, at the very least using them as a reference, and not just let them sit.  This is the second of those pictures I’ve done that with, the first being the Honeybee picture from a few weeks back.  I started working on it yesterday afternoon (Oct 10), and finished around five this evening.

     This was a sketch I did at my last job before a meeting.  I got there early, and didn’t want to just sit there and wait for everyone, so I opened my sketchpad and did a little work to keep me occupied.  The background of this picture was a collection of images I found on google.  That was sometime in 2008.

     Using that as reference, I started what would become my new & hopefully improved version.  I didn’t want him just standing there like in the illustrated version, and so, right off the back, I change the stance to a stroll.  Before I finished the upper body, I decided to try and see what this would look like if he’s carrying a duffle bag and looking at a compass, or cell phone.

     Those things wound up changing, as I decided to change the duffle bag to a book bag.  That changed the whole picture concept I had in mind, and informed the rest of the body’s image.  What would have been outdoors gear became school clothes, and the compass became a small mp3 player.

     Here is where I start to put the last few touches on the character.  I couldn’t figure out what colors to use for his clothes, and it took me about 15 minutes to find something to stick.

     And now, the dreaded background, where my inspiration goes to die.  I started trying to do a background similar to the original illustrated version, but that looked to much like “A Mid Day’s…” background.  So, off to google search I went.  The collection of references I picked up inspired this quick digital mock up.

     I opened up the picture in Paint.net, and started working on the sidewalk…

…and loaded the sidewalk into Sketchbook Pro to start working on the grass.

     Ok, so, here, I loaded the mockup into Paint.net, and used it to guide the building of the bridge…

…and then loaded the saved file into Sketchbook Pro 2010 to add the water under the bridge.

     Afterwards, I took the water layer out and added the grass.

     With those mostly done, I started adding details to the bridge, brick by brick.

     With everything done separately, I opened them all in Photoshop Elements, and simply put the individual pieces together.  This is the original finished version of the piece.  I really liked how this turned out, but the amount of blue was starting to distract me.  So, I decided to start experimenting with other colors for the background.

     And here’s the alternate finalized version.  It’s currently my favorite version of the picture, and, as of now, serves as my desktop.