Illustration Friday - Hollow

"I guess you won't be getting me today, Mr. Cat."

"No, not today...but you'll have to come out of that tree sometime, Mr. Bird."

For Mr. Cat, a hollow tree can lead to an empty stomach.

This was the first idea that came to my mind for Illustration Friday. I wanted to tell a cute little story, and what's better than a pair of friendly foes? When I made my first sketch for it, I thought it would look nicer in black and white. I wanted to challenge myself a bit by not using color this time around. It was different trying to explore how to make lines work for me, instead of relying on coloring skills. I tried to make sure each "mass" in the picture had something different happening in terms of line direction and such. I left the cat and bird "empty" so they would stand out. When I look at it now, I think it looks like a comic strip you'd find in the newspaper. It really looks like a Sunday comic strip when you add a splash of color to it though:

For the technical stuff, I drew this on an index card, and inked it using a Staedtler pen. Some of the tiniest lines were made using a Helix .1 technical pen. The thicker lines were made by just going over the outline a second time. I noticed that the index card soaked up a bit of ink, so the lines weren't as smooth as I had wanted them to be. I guess that adds to the "Sunday newspaper comic" feel to it, though. Incidentally, the insides of a hollow tree don't tend to look like that, as I found out later on a trip to the park. They tend to look much more boring.

I had this finished on Friday, but I got a bit ill and didn't post it until now. I notice I have some new comments too, so I'll definitely get to those in the morning. It's late now, so I'm going to get some sleep.