I titled this piece as a "quirky twin" for a reason.
This sketch is based off of the original "I Know I Can" birdy. I have a darker style to my character development that I often fight but genuinely get a kick out of every time I surrender to it. Having spent over seven years in the consumer product industry, I have been trained to think that happy/approachable sells. I have all these rules in my head that I have heard from Marketing departments and Sales teams that vary industry to industry, but nonetheless are still in the back of my mind when I am creating something. I often wonder what my work would look like if I didn't have "industry standards" in my reference bank.
While I like upbeat and sweet characters -- the ugly•beautiful ones (like the one above) really make my eyes flutter and get my hands itchy for more.
I have a feeling that I have been holding off rebuilding my website because I do not see much of "me" represented in some of the work I have been creating as of late. I think if I do more pieces like the one above, I will see more of my sarcasm and whimsically-dark-instinctively-sweet side. . .and, in turn, rebuild the website to reflect both sides of my talent.
Above is an example of what happens when I stop trying to make characters have mass-appeal and really push myself to pair an emotion with a character and make the image appealing/beautifully•ugly to ME. When I do this, a unique environment usually builds itself around the character much more easily than the happy/bright characters. I do believe that our surroundings effect how we present ourselves to others and how we feel. I am very amused when an environment builds itself so easily and naturally like it did in this sketch -- Can't wait to bring this to full color!
