Friendly Skies

On Monday I'll be flying up to Massachusetts for a week to spend some time with my extended family. I hate flying. Traveling through airport security is a hassle, and I always get cramped up in tiny seats with no leg room

I came up with the idea for this painting waiting for my flight home from San Diego Comic Con. I don't know what was about the prospect of spending five hours in a Boeing 737 and dealing with jet lag upon landing that inspired me, but it did.

The final composite sketch was done on several layers of tracing paper - something I tried after getting a few pointers from the great Chris Payne at the Illustration Academy this past summer.

 
Here I did value and color studies in Photoshop. Values first using a layer set to Multiply, then colors on top of them using another layer set to Color. It helps me tremendously to have an idea what the value and color scheme is supposed to look like before trying to paint the finish.

And this is the finish, done in watercolor, gouache and ink on Arches 140 lb. cold-press watercolor paper. I'm quite pleased at how it turned out, especially the clouds. I still haven't figured out how that saddle is attached to the bird.