For the first themed edition of “What Shall I Draw Today?” in 2021, the drawings resolved around Disney, and Pixar and the Muppets. The Disney day theme happened to be the top as voted in a quick poll on Instagram.
Here are the top 3 liked pieces from Sunday:
#1 - Joe and Roger Piano Players: original suggestion by @ani8tor57
Just a couple of piano players. The sister suggestion pitched by the same person had paired Joe and Schroeder from
Peanuts. Of course this combination of Joe Gardner (Pixar’s
Soul) and Roger Radcliffe (Walt Disney’s
One Hundred and One Dalmatians) is more Disney.
Could I have depicted Joe and Roger sitting on the same bench? Yes, and that could have been a way to economize the space with only a single upright piano.
I opted to have back to back pianos, allowing for the instruments to match the personalities of the players. As I have mentioned in past WSIDT summaries, all of the drawings done on the WSIDT days are done with little or no preparation. From choosing the suggested idea, I dive into the drawing as quickly as possible often taking the first layout decisions as they come. Also in the interest of making quick drawings, I make decisions to cheat layouts and creatively crop and simplify to eliminate unnecessary details.
Here I cheated the characters’ positions by having both lean around to make eye contact. Conveniently, With Roger in front, he conceals a good part of both pianos. The camera angle is set low so that I don’t have to draw pain keys, and the image tightly cropped to show just enough to display that they are playing pianos and not, perhaps, sitting at writing desks.
It’s always fun to incorporate a supporting character or two, and here the cat and a puppy fill the need nicely. Again, the layout is such that the image need not be full of dalmatian puppies.
I wonder what kind of jazz duet they’re playing that Joe is playing the high part and Roger the low part.
#2 - Melody Sleeping on Max: suggestion by @nikkistar5394
It wasn’t immediately clear to me who Melody and Max were. That’s where an internet search revealed these two Disney characters from The Little Mermaid franchise.
Looking at it now, Max may be a bit too small.
While not having first-hand knowledge of how a baby might sleep on a furry member of the family, I am confident that I must have seen something similar in a movie or on television. The sea-shell shaped gown is directly taken from still of The Little Mermaid 2.
#3 - Wanda and Vision at Disneyland: original suggestion by @ray.anna2018
This idea was one of the few incorporating a Disney theme park. At the time of this WSIDT session, the Disney+ series had just released the seventh episode. Even so, the first two black-and-white 1950s era episodes are still potent as defining imagery for the series. Another bit of imagery that is strongly associated with the WandaVision series is the classic vacuum tube television screen. When drawing a scene with two or more characters and other background features and/or properties, I lightly mark margins around the card. This time, that action naturally mimicked tracing the outline of a televisions screen.
For every “at Disneyland” suggestion that I draw, I try to select background elements that are 1) iconic 2) easy to draw. To that end, I’ll chose a distinct skyline and devise a way to not draw crowds. Here, Wanda and Vision are strolling through Town Square past the Main Street Train Station. Cropping as a medium two-shot with a low positioned camera point of view crops out room for surrounding crowds.
The suggestion also included that it be 1950s era. With Main Street being one of the least changed parts of the California park, I incorporated the 1955/56 styled popcorn box.
The slightly muted colors is also an attempt to evoke the era.
Here are the rest of the 9 drawn on Sunday:
Kermit (Hercules) and Miss Piggy (Megara)
Suggestion by @craftsgineer
Sisu meets MushuSuggestion by @zhukong24
Emma Stone as CruellaSuggestion by Kinzey F
Mrs. Potts at the Mad Hatter’s tea partySuggestion by @jonmpeterson
Burrito from The Flying GauchitoSuggestion by Abigail R.
Gaston showing his son Gil how to shootSuggestion by @harishas.art
All of these and more original pieces of art will be for sale in future convention shows.
The next WSIDT session is happening in
March 28, 2021.
For the year’s schedule, click on the WSIDT tab above.
Thank you to everyone who pitched their fun drawing suggestions.
Thank you for following my blog and/or Instagram (@Monstergram7) and/or Monster Enterprises Facebook page.
Thank you for liking.
All: Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.
“Joe & Roger” and “Wanda & Vision” 17.78 cm x 12.70 cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in)
“Melody & Max” 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm (3.50 in. x 2.50 in.)
