Good day my friends here on the community.
This is the sketch I made for the SketchQuest contest of @quatro . I was sitting in a coffee shop lolling, watching the trees do their slow waving through the big glass window. I didn’t plan this I just doodled what was in front of me like I always do. The trunk in the middle happened first because it was the loudest shape, then the leaves became this messy bunch forming the canopy that kind of reflects like a pattern more than real leaves. I wanted it to feel warm and a little dreamy and some autumn vibes too.
The lines are loose on purpose and this is the style that I want to explore and develop more. Not everything needs to be perfect; I want the thinking process to show in it. I played with thick black strokes for the foreground trunks and finer hatches for the background shapes so your eye knows where to rest. Colors came later..... I picked that orange glow because it felt like late afternoon in a café, and the teal mounds pops against the warm light. Process was quick messy and fun although I was doubting just a bit. That’s my thing: make, go with the flow, edit, meh, keep what’s working and learn from mistakes.
Step by step process:
Observing then quick rough. I blocked the main shapes first: big trunk center, canopy mass, rolling mounds. No details, just composition and a play on the colors I am considering using (autumn and coffee like)
Linework: Cleaned up with confident black strokes. Thick lines for foreground tree and grass, thinner hatches for middle and back. This gives depth and energy. It shows a little hesitancy on the hatching as I am still deciding if I will use hatching for shadows or darker colors.
Flat color blocking: Laid down base colors like the warm orange background, teal/green mounds, cream highlights. Keep colors flat no over blending at this stage
Refine & texture: Added hatch shading, reinforced outlines, sharpened leaf clusters and added more, make the window glow with light. Final pass: small details like the garbage can silhouette and more highlights on the leaves and some balance.
Hope you like it. If you spot the signpost by the hill, that’s where I scribbled the title in my head.