MerMay | Day 13 | Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn

Illustration done with an HB pencil on 4.5 x 6.5 white cardstock.

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One pencil? That's pretty neat. Though I do recall using a ruler.

Aside from the pointlessly massive space sitting beneath the image, this picture is quite charming. Backgrounds, as I'm sure I've said before, are not my strong suit, but I love vintage decor and would love to be able to draw my own settings. Vintage bathrooms are particularly quaint, so I thought it would be a nice mix to have a merboy making a wrong turn through a sewer into a bathroom from yesteryear. I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to retro bathrooms, and it came in handy.

I feel the best feature here is the variety of shapes and lines at play. The swooping lines of the bathtub, the square tiles, the question marks, all of it. Straight lines and I don't keep company often, but they work well here. They offer good, solid form when set against the curved lines. There's a decent enough balance of value as well, what with the minimal shading and indications of darker or else more reflective metals. I also like the rug. It really ties the room together.

There aren't really any "issues," per se, as in stuff that's just flat out terrible. Though, really, what is that giant block of space? It's about a third of the paper. I kind of like it, but it's darn pointless. Also, the grout around some of the tiles is darker than necessary, and it draws the eye. Badly. Plus, while the flat depth was part of the composition, it might have been more interesting to utilize some perspective.

It's rather nice. I'm glad it came out the way it did.

Thanks for reading.

#mermay #mermaid #bathroom #retro #cartoon #illustration #wrongturn