Rivers Know This...

There are two kinds of illustrations for me- the first kind is where I have the idea in my head and then I have to work out the composition on paper to get everything just the way I want it (which could take two sketches or twenty, depending). And then there is the second kind, which usually comes out of doodling with minimal ease when I am not feeling forced with any particular pre-conceived ideas. That was the case with this illustration. The quick sketch was done as I was reading A.A. Milne and came across the line "Rivers know this: there is no hurry, we shall get there someday." I loved that quote, and I just drew the first thing that came to mind, which was this...

... and then it sat in my sketchbook for five years. But I liked that little gesture drawing and kept coming back to it, and I finally decided to do something with it. In the finished illustration I pulled some of my own memories of childhood- that feeling that I always wanted to set out on a great adventure and maybe take an unfamiliar road to see where it would lead, but I also wanted to be safe and back in my own home by the end of the day. That's the reason for the bluffs- growing up in Iowa, they've been a familiar surrounding. So these kids, even though they are surrounded by something familiar and safe, are still excited to go off to explore something new within it.