I had to make a few adjustments on this. As you can tel from the sketch in the last post, I originally had Kris Kringle wielding an umbrella. However, something was not quite right. When I thought of Kringle using a weapon I thought of him smacking Mr. Sawyer with an umbrella. However, the more I thought further in the story, and especially at the end, I realized it was a cane instead.
So I debated whether to keep the umbrella (more visually interesting) or be accurate. Accuracy most always wins out. You know when you're working on something and you think "Aww, nobody will notice" Well, somebody almost always does. Years ago I was doing an illustration of a soldier for the 50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and a gentleman wrote me to let me know I had the soldier holding the wrong type rifle. SO I try to be a real stickler for accuracy.
Secondly, having the Grinch poked in the eye with an umbrella is more visually interesting than him getting poked with a cane. So I ended up moving the cane out of his eye and jamming it up his nose.
Finally, the spotlight effect was done digitally, just to frame the action.

A Seasonal Smackdown

As I mentioned before, I needed to establish each character’s “look” and provide the props for them to use in battle. This helps me plan where each will be positioned and how the interaction between them will logically happen.
I remembered a Spike Jones record album cover from my youth done by the great Jack Davis that served as inspiration (see image at right). I liked that there is so much to look at — so much going on. Yet, it doesn't become visually cumbersome or confusing.
In order to do this, I decide where each of the three character’s heads are going to be by making a triangle and placing the head positions at each point (marked in red on above sketch). From there, and with the props in mind, I simply fill in the action between them. As I do this, I need to be aware of making sure limbs don’t bend awkwardly, that elements don’t become muddled or confused due to their position, and that I establish an interesting negative (empty) space. As I've mentioned in earlier entries, interesting negative space gives your overall image a light, airy and fluid look — otherwise it can look like a big ole’ gob.
After this planning is roughed out, I will work on details of the individual faces (see Grinch) and make sure each face reacts logically to the brutal things being done to them.

Getting attention

The cover story for this week's Entertainment Tri-State features several local holiday stage productions preparing for the curtain to rise. Among the productions are such well-known characters as the Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge, the Nutcracker, Kris Kringle from "Miracle on 34th Street," and others.
Since there are no pre-production photos available, we'll do an illustration of a few of these characters competing for the spotlight. This can be much fun as these usually benevolent characters can fight over center stage.
The first thing is to decide which three characters I want to do. I want three because doing four could be too crowded, and two would create a mere for-or-against competition. Obviously, as the lone cartoonish being, the Grinch will be featured. I'll include Scrooge as a nod to the old classics, and Kris Kringle envisioned as Sir Edmund Gwenn's version from the classic film "Miracle on 34th Street." and not the manipulatively cheesy version put out in the 90s.
Next, I want to sketch them here with their appropriate props — as I plan to compose these guys into a major scuffle and will likely want to use the props as weapons. The Grinch wielding a can of Who Hash; Kris Kringle with his trusty umbrella and, I guess, Scrooge can use a money bag or maybe a candle. Some things may need to change as I construct the battle scene.
I'll share with you my strategy for doing that next time.