Idea

Below is the initial layout…which I know has nothing to do with candy and is about something completely different. I initially wanted to draw a scene of a kid looking up at a shop window displaying men’s tuxedoes.

I wanted to show the story of a kid that wanted to grow up, to become a man one day and wear the clothes of a man. However, for some reason, the drawing wasn’t pushing the emotional tone that I was imagining in my head. I wanted to show a strong desire coupled with the awe and wonder that a child inherently has.

The main issue was that we could not see the character’s face. And if I were to do a closeup on the child’s face, then I run into the technical problem of not being able to show a full size tuxedo in the frame.

Between showing the character expression and what the character is looking at, I thought the expression was more important. So, I decided to bring the camera forward into the shop so we could see how the child is feeling. This way I could definitely express the face of a child that desperately wants something.

Now I can address the issue of showing what the kid is looking at. And what do all children want?…CANDY!

Gesture Sketch

Imagine being a six year old kid strolling down the street just enjoying the view. Then in the corner of your eye, you catch something sparkling. You turn and see what must be the biggest lollipop in the history of the lollipops.

You want it so badly, but alas, you spent all your allowance already 😭. You can do nothing but stare at it and dream of a day when you can claim the world’s biggest lollipop.

How would it feel to want something so badly but it’s just out of reach? How would your hands move? How would your body lean? Would your mouth be open in astonishment or closed in a smile? These are the questions that need answering when drawing the gesture of a character.

I put myself in the kid’s shoes and felt myself reaching forward with hands and face smushing the glass trying to get as close as I could. A grown up would never smush their face against glass. They have to look mature and composed in society.

Not kids. Kids don’t care about how they look. They just want immediate happiness.

Imagining myself as a kid at a candy store really helped me to develop the initial gesture. I drew a forward lean in the body and the hands reaching up against the glass. Even his cheeks and hat are being pressed against the window. I used small circles to indicate the placement of the candy around the main character.

Perspective

I wanted to be very careful in planning out the perspective, especially because there weren’t that many elements to show it clearly. The only object that would show obvious perspective is the window frame.

I marked out my horizon line and drew a very simple grid to a vanishing point far off the frame. I ensured that the facial features would match up with the perspective in order to give the scene believability.

Colour

The idea was to have cool blue moonlight pouring in from the right and complementing the warm oranges and pinks on the inside of the candy store. As you can see, I took it waaaayyy too far and it looks like the entire candy store is on FIRE.

Below, I tried another colour design focusing on a dreamy atmosphere and pulling inspiration from Willy Wonka colour schemes. I focused on soft pinks and purples against the blue moonlight. I also put extra colour contrast with bright yellows and oranges around the lollipop since it’s one of the two major focal points.

And even though the kid looks scary without eyes, I thought the colour design was MUCH better.

Render

Taking an image from a crude colour comp to a polished painting is always a daunting task. But it’s extremely rewarding when it comes to a finish that you can be proud of.

There’s not much I can say about the rendering process since the major problems have been solved. It is just about adding detail in more important areas and removing them elsewhere.

After about six hours from gesture sketch to final render, here is the result!