anika mari

I worked on 3 different Creativity Boot Camp themes today. I finished two themes, but one of them is the second to last theme on the list. I want to post the themes in order, so I’ll save it for later.

I finished the next theme, “fly,” after one false start. Initially I tried this really convoluted drawing of various birds in various states of flying. I drew them from photos I took last winter. It ended up as a crazy, confusing mess that I didn’t even bother finishing, let alone scanning.

Attempting to drum up new ideas, I doodled aimlessly with the theme in mind. Before I knew it, three little paper planes appeared on my paper. I liked the doodles, so I refined the lines and the perspective a bit (which is still sort of wonky, but they are paper planes, so wonky is probably ok).

As I was drawing the little planes, I expected that I’d eventually add in some texture, shading, and color. Once the outlines were in place, however, I quite liked them just as they were; somehow precious in their simplicity. So I’m going to leave them as they are: plain planes.

When I uploaded the image to flickr I saw how gray it was. I drew them on white paper, and I thought I’d balanced it correctly in photoshop, but obviously not. I fixed it to make the ground white, but I missed the way that the gray defined the space, so: gray stays.

The only other idea I had was to make the planes white on a gray background.

I like it. I like them both actually, and I’m not sure if I have a favorite.

Do you prefer one version over the other?

Whether white on gray, or just gray, I really like the drawing. It’s really simple, but it’s a fun solution for the theme, and just right for this perfect summer day.

I have an idea for the next theme, “ornament.” I just need the time to draw it!