Souci

This month James Gurney's Art by Committee is about a dialog:

"Souci?"
"Yes."
"This is Billy."
"I can see that."
"Oh, right. You don't have your camera on."
"Mmmm."
"Umm, welcome back."
"Thanks."
One... two... three... four...
"So, should we, um, get together or something?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. Have lunch? Some drinks?"
"I'm on a diet."
"Take a walk?"
"Where?"
"I don't know. Want to talk?"
"What about?"
"Ummm. Never mind. Look, I'll, uh, call you again, all right?"
"Sure."
"Bye."
"Bye."

here is my proposal:

To be called Souci (in french: preoccupation, concern) may not be easy, but to be in love with Souci is probably even less easy. I've tried to imagine the difficult and conflicted young lady at the phone. Everyone has met at least one Souci in his life...  :)

The drawing was made in a hurry, so there are some evident faults (besides my usual ones, I mean...).

Maid service

This month James Gurney's Art by Committee is about a business card:

Cinderella's maid service

a Wish come true

Melissa - Reference available

My image is actually set some years later. Melissa is no more a maid herself, but still runs her company with some employees. The maid service has evolved a bit during the years, as Melissa is always concerned about customer satisfaction...

For those who prefer drawings:

His eyes, so bright

This month James Gurney's Art by Committee is about a strange creature:

“He is shorter than I remember, and thin. His fur is grayed to white in a fringe around his head, just below his ears. His coat is dull, thinning, and coarse. His eyes, so bright I…”

In one of my previous posts, I was complaining that my digital paintings are actually "drawings with some color below". So I decided to make no preliminary drawing on paper, and start painting from the beginning... well, almost. This is the digital sketch - anyway, less accurate than I'm used to do:



the "bright eyes" made me think the guy was not a nice person, so I ended up with this gnomish, dwarfish villain. After that, I started painting - disrespectfully covering the drawing :)
This is the "creature" without fur (I know, I should have painted the fur from the start):



at this point, I should have added some fur as described in the quotation, but I decided a satyr-like red beard was more suited for this guy, and that's the result:

Chains

"He stood and held his arms out before him, pulling the chains taut. The muscles in his shoulders and his chest bunched, standing out in sharp relief, and a moment later, the chains snapped cleanly"

This month's assignment for James Gurney's Art by Committee is probably more definite and precise than usual, which, depending on your disposition, can make things easier or more difficult. Anyway, I've decided not to be completely literal.

The drawing was a bit unclear, so I decided to put some (digital) color on it:


With digital color it's quite easy to do some variations:


without the strong contrast between flowers and backgroud the image is somewhat less focused, but perhaps more subtle:

Dots...

“But when the dots did not vanish even after he scrubbed his fists across his eyes three times, he shouted hoarsely…”

This is the last assignment given by James Gurney for his "traditional" Art by Committee. I suspect that my proposal is a bit coarse, but anyway...


Of course, the drawing is reminiscent of both the scream by Munch and the cliché of the painter with Dalì-style moustache.

Harvard Depository

This month James Gurney's Art by Committee is about a business card:

HARVARD DEPOSITORY

Trudy L. XXX
Operations Manager
...
A Depository for books and records
owned by Harvard University and operatied By XXX YYY

the "assignment is to illustrate the owner of the card and his or her profession based just on the card itself".

I'm not very expert with those new "odd" jobs, so I have simply imagined an old lady working in a book and record depository, a kind of bookworm ideally living among her beloved writers and artists. I hope I haven't completely missed the point.
I realized quite late that "Trudy" is female, so I simply put a kind of wig on the head of the old guy, and changed the dress a little...

Below is a version with some background, the question is always the same: more focus or more detail? (but good artists get both, actually...)

The harper began to sing...

“The harper began to sing. His deep voice was fine and sweet, eloquently expressing his intent. He sang of the bitterness of defeat and the gut-wrenching carnage of war. He sang of boys...”

Every month James Gurney, the creator of Dinotopia, chooses a short quotation from a book and invites people to illustrate it (look for Art by Committee in his blog). I regularly visit Mr Gurney' blog, as it's full of beautiful art and interesting notes.

As to my image, it has been made in a "free mind attitude", and it shows. Sometimes I allow myself to freely draw what comes to my mind, the result is clearly rather messy in composition, proportion and perspective (and possibly anatomy, too), but often more interesting than a "planned" drawing - and it can be the starting point for more accurate works, too.

Comments and critics are welcome.