70 years of Tintin!

Tintin and Snowy had just turned 70! That had to be celebrated in a Flemish children's magazine!

... first sketches...

... some more sketches and experiments...
I decided to further develop the sketch in the red frame..

... sketched bigger now... still far from good! Clumsy and way too stiff!
(even for a 70 year old) :-)

But if you work on it long enough, it usually gets better... With this here I can move on...

In a photo book I found a suitable mountain landscape.
I sketched it around Tintin and Snowy...
But I didn't like it in the end anyway, too rocky, too rough for a birthday!

I searched further and chose something sunnier...

Some reduced photocopies (50%) to do quick color tests with my crayons...

I only did one color test that time....
... because I copied the background from a photo album, that part was already good...
And Tintin wears always the same suit and Snowy is always white... Not many options so! :-)

Only now did I feel confident enough to start the real painting work on A4 format.
You have to be careful with gouache, you can't correct much without messing up...

... and if you know it will be published, you want it to be good, right?
Even if it is intended for young children...