'On to the top!' - a Kim Clijsters caricature

February 2001. I was asked to paint an ambitious Kim Clijsters climbing the world rankings.
How? Quite literally... climbing a mountain stubbornly!

First sketches, ... usually they don't mean much yet. But you have to start somewhere...

An already very detailed sketch here, but not yet the final one.
Kim's head wasn't striking enough in my opinion... I didn't feel good about it.

Looking for better... With tennis ball or not? I had to decide...
Kim was known to be an extremely friendly girl. She really didn't look like that here! :-)

I got the idea to include Justine Henin as well. Also a Belgian, just like Kim, and also systematically climbing up in the world ranking!
With cap? Or without a cap?

I thought this was okay. This allowed me to continue...

First some color tests before the real work started...

Painting with gouache on A4 Steinbach "Aquarelle" paper 250 gr/m².
(Little Justine Henin didn't make it easy for me. I've painted her over, several times, I never got her perfect to my liking.)

Commissioned by Publisher 'De Eenhoorn' for their children's magazine 'Klap'.