I have never tried the inkblot exercise but I really enjoyed it because of the spontaneity and the idea to not overthink what you are doing. I was very surprised to see that in the funny shapes I came out with I was seeing new characters being formed. I believe it helped because naturally, I would do a character that I have probably seen before or would look too similar to ones from movies. However, this exercise allowed me to not have control over what I was making and therefore I came out with a unique unexpected character. This character that was formed from the blot ink exercise was an unusual shape and what I saw in this shape was a face and hair/hood. I looked at references from characters from the 101 dalmatians for figure posing and the grinch by Dr. Suess. I also knew that this character would have a sharp aggressive personality so I was avoiding circles and squares but more triangles.
My character is named Francis and she was very close to her mother and learned how to sew from her. Sadly, she lost her mother and her father was never there. Francis pursued fashion and was a seamstress but was fired for her stubbornness and harsh opinion. Francis never fully moved on from her mother’s death and is now frustrated, bitter, and unhappy. Currently, Francis is in her 60’s and lives with her husband in London and is an excessive shopaholic to cope with her sadness. She does not care about the environment and uses her husband as a piggy bank and coathanger.
Next, I worked on gestures and finding the right environment for Francis to be in. I wanted her to be in the foreground and her husband to be carrying all her bags in the background. The illustration shows Francis has gone on a shopping spree with her husband’s money and is tossing out a scarf into the garbage because it isn’t to up to her standards. I wanted to go with a watercolor painterly approach. With loose scratchy line work, appearing like pen and ink. I wanted the color palette to be blues, pinks, purples and a hint of yellow for lighting. These colors were intended to echo the mood of the scene. The scene is captured around the afternoon at 3 pm.
Sketches up to final
Final Piece
