One last halloween post

Nothing is more out-of-date than Halloween the day after Halloween. Still, it’s the soonest I could post these sketches, given that I did them yesterday.

I drove by Louise’s yard this weekend and got a quick glimpse of the awesome decorations. So I went back to see it while he put his final touches to it yesterday. It’s a work of art, and like many works of art, a labor of love. Louise does this really elaborate setup, adding motors and sound and all sorts of effects the zillions of things in his yard. All just for the fun of it, every year. Here are some vignettes of the stuff in his yard.

I sketched all three pages in black ink and then added color to all three, also on location. I think I often just add color by reflex, and with this one especially I wonder if I should have just left it in line. Here are the same three pages, when I was done.

If you’re wondering how it’s possible to add color to 3 spreads all together and not make a mess, here’s what I did: I did make a big mess, I turned over spreads while they were wet. Some pages stuck together and I unstuck them as best as I could.

I guess the question is: Does the color add anything? Does it take anything away? And could I have said what I said in these three spreads with no (or less) color?