July Prompt: Rainy Day

After a bit of thinking I decided on a concept for July's contest. Nothing ruins a vacation like a downpour of rain, especially if you set out for a picnic!

Here are two thumbnails I'm exploring. I'm starting to put together my dream portfolio and I've noticed that it includes a lot of it rough applications of color and loose strokes, so I'm hoping to take the first step towards that style in this piece. Feedback on these compositions would be great!

Heather Boyd

@Alicja-W

I like the first image because it balances out well and it is not so predictable. Caught in a storm instead of holding romantically onto an imaginary air balloon which would be cute lols.

@Heather-Boyd
Thanks for the feedback! I went ahead with the first composition, and I agree that the less predictable nature of the figures makes more sense.

I went ahead and flipped the dog so that he's being pulled in the direction of the wind instead of against it. Will look at it again tomorrow to finalize or change some more details.

Starting to lay down some layers of background color for the storm.

More progress:

I'm not sure how I feel about this piece now that I've added the rain drops. I'm playing around with layering with colored pencil and watercolor but probably should have done more studies before doing this effect on the final piece. I'll probably leave the piece for now and come back to it later with fresh eyes to make some more adjustments.

braden H

Very cool. I'm lovin' the contrast of the flapping picnic blanket against the angry stormy sky. I'm racking my brain for a way to get that rain in front of the picnicers without covering them up.

Maybe a few very strategic white raindrops in front of the characters with more rain on the grass around them?

@Braden-Hallett
That could be a good idea. I just have to make sure not to overdo it like I did with a lot of the rain. I'll give a try and see where it goes. Thank you!

Ok, so it's not my favorite piece I've ever created, but making this piece made me aware of some more avenues to explore in terms of overlapping different media.