Roughing it.

Well, I've been blessed with a great opportunity to do a lot of personal work.
I just started a 9 week hiatus from my regular 9-5 at Cartoon Network, and I am chomping at the bit to get away from the computer keyboard and back to my beloved paint.
This is the color rough for the imaginary book cover. I always find it helpful when I can get at least one of these done before I start a finished painting. Occasionally when I don't have the time or am brave enough to forge ahead without it , I usually regret it. Sometime I may never refer to it again , but it allows me to think about the final painting and solve most of the problems that might come up later. Basically, I think about whether the story is being told or not. Is the main focus obvious? What is the mood? All that. From the drawing stage I new that I wanted the boy to have red hair, to give him a devilish quality.( Illustration is all about stereotypes.) So I complimented that with a predominately green palette in the background, careful not to let it look too Christmasy.