In my last year as a teen librarian, the summer reading club theme for teens was "Reading Takes You Everywhere," which I interpreted as a travel-oriented theme. While searching out road-trip books to feature on a book list, I found one that I thought had the perfect cover for the summer brochure (teens reading a map). But it was someone else's photo, and was also obscured by words and drawings. So I recreated the whole thing in an impromptu photo shoot, and then made a sketch to use as the cover.
These are Allison, George, and Katrina, three of my book club kids, posing behind the map and sitting in the open rear hatch of my new Jeep Renegade, which I had just bought that February after my beloved Kia Soul was totaled. These smallest of the Jeep line with their distinctive criss-cross tail lights are pretty popular now in Los Angeles (although at the time I bought it they were rarely seen), so I think I can legitimately use this for "hometown car."
The space at the bottom of the painting was left open for the title of the brochure. I thought I had a copy somewhere, but couldn't find it in my files.
I wished later that I had done this illustration on real watercolor paper instead of in my sketchbook, which will hold up pretty well to watercolor, but had a few issues after several layers!
Micron pen and watercolor, in Bee Sketchbook.
#artinthetimeofselfquarantine
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