Saturday, August 29, 2015

Illustration: Polkadots and Moonbeams

Shield your eyes, this week's Colour Collective was 'chartreuse'!

I wanted to continue my fadeaway girl and moonlight theme, but it was tough to shoehorn chartreuse in! In the end I went with Polkadots and Moonbeams by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke as my theme.


A country dance was being held in a garden
I felt a bump and heard an 'Oh, beg your pardon'
Suddenly I saw
Polkadots and moonbeams
All around a pug-nosed dream

The music started and was I the perplexed one
I held my breath and said 'May I have the next one?'
In my frightened arms
Polkadots and moonbeams
Sparkled on a pug-nosed dream

There were questions
In the eyes of other dancers
As we floated over the floor
There were questions
But my heart knew all the answers
And perhaps a few things more

Now in a cottage built of lilacs and laughter
I know the meaning of the words 'Ever After'
And I'll always see
Polkadots and moonbeams
When I kiss the pug-nosed dream


The song is a pretty romantic standard, but I decided that a fast-paced swing dance could easily result in an accidental bump on the dancefloor (and then a segue into a slow dance), so I added silhouettes of a few other girls dancing to set the mood. And the chartreuse background was just crying out for a beautiful African girl to look stunning in the bright colour. 

The fadeaway effect is less prominent here simply because of the polkadots, but it does have a precedent in Coles Phillips very first fadeaway girl magazine cover in 1908:


He spent a lot more time on his polkadots, clearly, but I wasn't going for a fully realistic placement, which would clash a bit with the flatness of the pics I've already done. 


Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2

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