Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. It was designed to challenge participants creatively. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it. No clients looking for a particular thing. No one judging the outcome of the work. It’s a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art.
My first thought when faced with this week’s theme “Adrift” is being adrift on a raft in the sea. I felt it was predictable so I tried to think out of the box and came up with being adrift on the wind. It was only after I finished my picture, that I found out the idea isn’t so unique after all, judging from all the entries on the Illustration Friday website.
I did a quick drawing of my idea in pencil. I wasn’t in the mood to ink or colour it so it is just a pencil sketch for now. I decided to keep the idea of having an inflatable raft and tied balloons to it so it can float in the sky. I had the passengers playing cards without a care in the world, as if floating away in a raft tied with lots of balloons is just an everyday occurrence. The passengers were originally intended to be manga-like characters but I decided to change them to Englishmen in top hats to give it added quirkiness. There is just something about an expressionless well-dressed Englishman in a top hat that pushes quirkiness to the next level.
Maybe I’ll colour this one day. I quite like the idea and hope to see it in colour. But that’s for the future and won’t be anytime soon. Because right now I working on something else.
