return

I haven't been as up to date on my Illustration Friday participation as I would like, but there have been so many good ones in the past that I've missed that I'm determined to catch up and do a few for myself! This is one I just completed was for the word from a couple weeks ago, return. I have been spending alot (probably too much) time on Flickr and the sources of inspiration found there are absolutely endless! I came across artwork by Eugenie Groh and thought it was the perfect piece of inspiration. I love the linework in these pieces and wanted to attempt to emulate it in my own 'return-influenced' work.

Along with the inspiration from Groh's work, I often find music that inspires me - especially with these Illustration Fridays that begin with a single word. There's a line in Such Great Heights by Iron & Wine that made me think of returning home;

"When you are out there on the road
for several weeks of shows
and when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home".

And from that, I became inspired by different lyrics in the same song and began working on my long overdue Illustration Friday piece.
I actually had intended on creating a few different images experimenting with linework, but I had a stroke of luck and really liked my first drawing and decided to complete it as my final.
Here she is:

I created this image in black ink, scanned it into photoshop for a couple minor touch-ups and voila! I like the end result and thought it would make a great shirt - maybe even a band tee for Iron & Wine fans? I decided to run with this idea and make a mock-up of what that might look like:

Ah, and enjoy a little music while you're here: