Back to School

Completed August 3, 2006

Well, I'd say this was one of my more ambitious projects-- outside those decade-themed Final Fantasy pieces I did so long ago. And that's mostly because of the BACKGROUND. The background took longer than the girls. But I wanted something beautiful for the background. At first, I had a normal city street. It was asphault streets, concrete sidewalks, a couple gray buildings with storefronts. The thing is, it looked more like the Lower East Side of New York than Japan.

So, I looked at some images of some truly STUNNING background drawings I downloaded awhile back to look for ideas. I saw this great cobblestone pattern, and it didn't take me long to figure out how to make the pattern. And I added some foliage, and opened up the far background a lot more. And finally I switched the main storefront from a flat, concrete building to the vastly superior structure that is now there, and I am quite proud of.

As for the girls. Well. That was a new dillema for me. See, here I just spent 3 days getting that background perfect. I didn't want to cock things up with sub-par girls-- like the two I originally drew! By the time I started coloring and clothing them, the flaws in their body became unacceptable. After a lot of frustration, I drew these two, and enjoyed how their bodies came out. I tried something a little new in the way I shaded their clothes. It's nothing radically different, but I think it was worth the extra effort. And the only thing I'm a little uncertain about is their hands. But shit, I have a hard enough time drawing hands by themselves, much less grasping EACH OTHER! But, I thought it'd be cute if they were walking down the street holding hands. My understanding is that girls in Japan do that a lot.

Of course, the biggest cultural inconsistency is probably the idea of Japan even HAVING back to school sales! Especially since in this country the biggest seller at those sales are CLOTHES. Well, in Japan, I believe their options for schoolclothes are quite limited. I, in reality, detest the idea of putting kids in uniforms, but what the hell, it makes for cute drawings. ^_^ AND whether or not they use the finger over there. I imagine they do. I can't picture them not knowing the significance of that by now. Western entertainment is everywhere all over the world. So, if they didn't already have that gesture, they probably do NOW! ^_^

Well then, I've rambled on quite enough. If you're still reading this, thanks for humoring me. This kicks off my annual tradition of drawing schoolgirls in August and September. I know the school theme hardly enters into this one, but, I think it still works. I begin the series with a piece showing that summer vacation is coming to a close. Sorry, kids.... HA!