Monday, April 27, 2009

The Little Mermaid **revisited** (sketch phase)

hello!
I guess I'm going through a phase where I like to redo old drawings of mine because I'm attempting to do it again. I have always loved The Little Mermaid and after a trip to a Florida underwater mermaid show about two weeks ago I've been wanting to put some samples from the story back into my portfolio.
It's a not so secret dream of mine to someday do a version of the story, illustrated by myself, and I find the part with the mermaid in her garden particularly heartbreaking so I'm going there again.

"She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers, like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue. It was the representation of a handsome boy, carved out of pure white stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck." taken from
- The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson

ANYWAY.....
Here is the drawing I did bout 3-4 years ago:



I like it a lot but I think it could be updated and made a little bit more dramatic.
Here are some of my thought process sketches.







Any thoughts or feelings about these sketches would be much appreciated! I always like to know what other people think before I "dive"(har har har...I suck) into a final piece

4 comments:

Sabbio said...

I love your vision of this character... my fav sketch is the "020", love the sea weeds floating and the antique look of the statue.

Allie said...

My personal favorite is definitely the first, although all of them are great! In the third down one, I really like the man's softer stance and hand out. Looking forward to seeing the final results!

http://thebeautifulfool.blogspot.com

Jacob said...

The original is my favorite, particularly the way she's clutching the statue. But I do like the composition that the lighting and sea garden bring to the following to versions.

Green said...

Ohh, the first drawing(done 3-4 years ago) just made my heart so ached... it brought me up the feeling when I read the Andersen's "Little Mermaid" as a little girl long time ago. Was too sad... Look at her how much she adores the prince...
Your drawing are so impressive.