The goal in this cartoon was to get the feeling of a rainy day and yet not to lose the brightness and the drama of the day. The focus needed to be the umbrella, so that I could draw the eye in, despite all the rest of the details. In the past, I’ve been a bit shy trying to put colour in the pictures, when trying to draw focus to an object. Over time, however, I’ve learned that you can put in bright colours just about anywhere—and then just dull it down a bit.
That way the bright colour stays bright. So for example, in this umbrella scene, the umbrella stays the centre of focus and the other characters come in second position. Only once you’ve moved along do you notice the trees and the rest of the information. If you look closely, you’ll also notice the trees in the distance (watered down to show distance).
About the cartoon
I detest sharing my umbrella. I almost always get wet. But at the same time, my wife doesn’t like to carry her umbrella when going for a walk. On this day, it didn’t just rain. It absolutely poured down. And of course, I had to share my umbrella. Grumble, grumble, grumble. One side of me got soaked and I grumbled more, but only for about 5 minutes. By that point my shoes were soaked and so was one side and by that point, staying dry didn’t matter at all. In fact I positively enjoyed walking in the rain—and getting wet. But that doesn’t mean I like sharing my umbrella all the time, either. I will be happy to make exceptions from time to time 🙂