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THE CURIOSITY OF SQUIRRELS

Today’s sketch is a digital one! I’m working on a project for my local library and have been experimenting with color. Color is one of the hardest things for me. I love the sketching phase, I love the inking phase…and then I get to the adding color phase and it’s like my brain shuts off. So I thought throw caution to the wind with this experiment and use some colors that aren’t totally realistic.

 
Digital drawing of a squirrel lovingly staring at a crocus flower
 

And you know what? Turns out I’m stoked with how it came out. I’ve been watching a lot of Meggie Johnson on YouTube and her coloring style is what I was trying to play with. She uses these bold colors and it’s so appealing to the eye. The digital app I use (Procreate) has a handy tool in the color wheel called “harmony”. After deciding the main color for Mr. Squirrel, I used that tool to add triadic colors for shadows and highlights. It’s definitely outside of my usual realistic color palette, but I think it brings so much more life to the piece. I’m going to keep experimenting with color, but I really feel like I’m on to something with this style. Shoutout to Meggie for being such an inspiration - ya’ll should definitely check out her work!

Keep Creating!