Jack White's Owl

This is a project I did a couple of weeks ago. I was rushing to get it finished and didn't have time to scan it. I got it back from my instructor and now I can post it on my blog.

The assignment was to create a pet for a celebrity. It's kind of like a caricuture or portrait of a celebrity with their imaginary pet. There was a lot of leeway and some of the pets people created in class came out pretty wild.

I went with simplicity.

The celebrity I chose was Jack White (I really like his music and style). For a long time I couldn't decide what kind of pet he should have. I finally concluded a owl would be best. I like how the final came out. Below is my process. Enjoy!

I started with some rough drawings, just trying to get the look of Jack White and his Owl. I really liked how the owl came out in the roughs, with the hat, tie, and suspenders. Although later I wasn't sure what the suspenders were holding up since I didn't want the owl to have pants. Graphite on paper.

I then made this water color painting. I liked how the colors bled, and the splatter of ink, but Jack's face was wrong, and I felt like it needed something else. Ink, water color on 90lb. water color paper.

I was a little stumped, and was doodling from photos, and suddenly I made this quick gestural sketch of Jack with his owl. Including the whole body seemed to help and I liked it a lot, but wasn't sure how I could duplicate this spontaneity on illustration board. (I made this sketch on crummy computer paper, unsuitable for watercolor).

Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute and held my breath and did my best to redo the gestural sketch on illustration board, just by looking at my original sketch (I couldn't think of a better way to transfer the drawing). Colored it, and turned it in with the paint still drying. My favorite part is the subtle change of color in his pants and the look of his fingers.

Higgins waterproof Ink, and water color, on illustration board. 8.5x11"