This year, I decided to finally join Inktober and accepted the personal challenge of completing 31 small handmade paintings using supplies such as Posca Markers and PrismaColor.
I was immediately drawn in by the #chilltober prompt list and decided to embrace the cute and simple concepts prepared for each day. Some of the prompts were easier and straight forward, while other ones required me to think hard about visual metaphors and representation for abstract ideas. Day 10 came with the prompt: “Warm socks”, and out of the list, this one was by far the hardest. Since I didn’t want it to approach it in a literal/intuitive way, I took some extra time sketching and brainstorming to create something unique.
Whenever I’m trying to tackle an illustration riddle, I usually go back to my methodology. Aside from the usual doodling and researching I also look inwards and try to figure out the pure emotion that the subject matter makes me feel. The emotion is consequently paired in my mind with a certain action, and by figuring out these two variables, the image of the characters I’m trying to conjure starts appearing in my mind.
In the case of “Warm Socks”, the emotion that popped in my heart was one of comfort and warmth, which were then paired in my head with the action of snuggling. I also envisioned a big character sharing time with a tiny one so I could play around with different scales. At the end of this thought process, my hand was able to materialize an adorable elephant and tiny hamster napping & been covered head to toe by socks and scarves.
The “Warm Socks” prompt was then developed into a cute visual short story about Boris and Hyde. This Two best friends were enjoying some tea during a winter afternoon, and ended up falling asleep together while waiting for their drinks to cool down.