Fredrick
This project was done for Day 9 of Peachtober 2023, a daily art-making challenge, facilitated in October by illustrator Sha'an d'Anthes, aka Furry Little Peach.
The word for Day 9 was:
Blue
This is a project where I came out on the other side of it feeling like the concept, while remaining simple, could be pushed a bit further. Sometimes, it’s easier to see what a project needs after you’ve made that first attempt.
The Process
This is the first attempt. Not bad for a one-day project, but overall, I wasn’t satisfied with the outcome and I wanted to tell a story about the frog that was more interesting and funny. The second attempt wouldn’t have have happened if I hadn’t done this first.
The Mood Board
I decided that I wanted the frog to be cuter and more bulbous (seen below), rather than athletic. When I found the photo of the old man at the pool, I knew instantly that I had to incorporate his personality into the frog in some form or fashion.
Thumbnails
I decided to lean more heavily into the compositional symmetry of the original piece, which reminded me of Wes Anderson’s work. I knew then that I wanted to use a blocky, sans serif font for the type treatment.
Color Studies
After much deliberation, I decided on the color scheme where Fredrick is pink, because sometimes, you just wanna paint a pink frog. Although the color blue isn’t the focal point, using it to paint the surrounding environment makes it hard to ignore.