@jdubz Nice! From a sheer compositional standpoint I like the stag on the hill and the one below it with the "fairy butterfly." Every read the stag passage in Wind in the Willows? It has some of that, only not sinister.

As for the girl, I rather like the first one, but I don't really know what your style is. Good start!

@Lee-White I'm very interested! Unfortunately I am leaving town today for a week and won't have my Cintiq with me, but I'm taking a sketchbook. Maybe I can do the research part anyway.

Like you said, the hardest part is finding a worthy subject matter. I think I want to do either one of my neighborhood kids in the context of a larger scene, or a book spread. Ok guys, let's go!

@Aleksey I'm interested in hearing how this goes, because I really like Weston's work. (I've also tried to mimic his lovely chalk strokes digitally, to no avail ) Could you please let us know how it goes?

Wouter Tulp is another really good character designer to study.

This drawing is, ironically considering it's Slowvember, an attempt to produce something quickly. It only took a few days' work off and on, which for me is unusually fast. It's based on a friend's son who likes to come home from preschool and dress up as Rapunzel. He's definitely a boy, but who doesn't like the idea of going around with swishy blonde hair now and then?

@Braden-Hallett That's hilarious! And the bird in the ear is a nice touch.

@demotlj There were some slight changes around the eyes, for example in the red version I had made the upper eyelid fold pinker and put a pink line under each eye. As you know, with an illustrated face sometimes a couple of lines can make a big difference!

@BichonBistro @demotlj Thank you! I thought the face looked a little too tired in the color version so I made some slight changes that you can see in the yellow version.

So I sent the drawing above to my friend. She loved it! And she wanted it signed. But apparently little Francesco's reaction was that he wanted his hair yellow, like his sister's tights. So here we go--a yellow version!

I had to make some parts darker to balance the lighter yellow. Still have to figure that part out.

Here is the more or less finished version, because I want to start knocking out some pieces more quickly. I did take down the blue a bit, add some pattern, and exaggerate the length a bit more. I'm still open to suggestions, though!

P.S. The decision not to wrap the pattern was purposeful. I'm playing with the balance between flat design (composition, color and pattern) and volume (shading, perspective, rounded forms). I'm open to critiques about how well it works, though.

Every illustration I do is slow, and I'm going to be away for the first week of November, so I'm thinking Slowvember should be about my speed! Sure, I'm joking, but the idea is to finish something, so it should still help.