Reworking Jack

                    Re-worked                                                                                            Original

So after I posted Jack, I had a few friends look and tell me what they thought. For clients I generally show them black and white sketches of the compositions, and tell me what they think. A sketch is much easier to change than a finished piece. Since this composition was for me, I didn't have anyone to run this by besides myself. I knew the look that I was going for, and I approved my initial sketches.

Jack's Eyes

Jack is supposed to be scared not sad. In my original sketches they had been, and I accidentally changed them.

Reworked                                                                       Original

The Fix: Colored Pencil

This actually was an easy fix. I changed the angles of the upper eyelids and added so more shadows/highlights.

The Ground

I had wanted to show the ground where the beanstalks came out of the ground with the leaf that Jack is sitting on making the horizon line. My husband looked at it and said it didn't make sense. I think the perspective might have been off, I'm not sure.

                             Reworked                                                                           Original

The Fix: Colored Pencil

I created more cloud cover, then I also then added more cloud cover nearer to the top of the bean stalk; which I will talk about in the next point.

The Castle

I hadn't even thought of the giant's castle, in my head that was a different scene.

                            Reworked                                                                             Original

The Fix: Colored Pencil

I wanted the castle to appear hidden in the clouds. I added some outlines of a castles and shaded some areas. I like that you have to look at the picture for a while to notice the castle.


Honest critiques are so valuable. They change your perspective and how you view your piece. Sometimes as artists we get too attached to our illustration and don't want to change our "baby". I loved the original, but now I love this finished piece even more. It's not that the other piece wasn't finished, but listening to the critiques helped. I think the reworked piece looks more complete than the original.

As an artist you have to listen to a lot of critiques and take each of them with a grain of salt. If your work is for a client, and they want something changed, you are generally going to change it. When you are working on your own piece; you have an open pallet. This piece was a practice piece, and I had the freedom to experiment to my heart's desire. The freedom to try something new where you possibly might make a mistake is huge. Those risks can make or break a piece, and when you are under a deadline you often times cannot afford to take risks. When you take risks with your pieces you learn about yourself and what you can do, and about the medium and different ways it works. Taking risks is a vital step in the learning process of life and art, and I am very glad I took the risks with "Jack".