I LOATHE YOU Character Studies

“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.”

- Linus Pauling, (1901-1994), American Chemist and Biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Here are some of the many character studies I did for my book I LOATHE YOU:

Stacks of drawings piled up around the studio.

Finally I came up with this purple-gourd-pig-snout thing with wings.  I thought surely this was IT:

I was so excited I even sculpted it:

 

But the editorial team at Simon & Schuster said no.  Try again.  The pig snout was too much.

Here’s the approved character design:

Next it was time for color studies.  Here is a small fraction of the color combinations I tried and tested on friends and family:

 

And at last the final character:

I tell kids every time I speak to school audiences,

“A professional artist isn’t someone who gets it right on the first try.
A professional is someone who is willing to keep trying until it’s right.”