Wonka Factory Gate

This picture was supposed to be a minor celebration for the fiftieth post on this blog, but I ended up taking far longer on it than I care to admit.  Frankly, what do I even have to celebrate with this?  This picture took much longer than I care to admit due to not having the opportunity to work on it when I want to draw and later not wanting to draw when I have the opportunity.  In fact, I have not felt much like doing anything lately, despite having ideas for bigger projects because "What if I fail?".  I wanted this drawing to be a triumph of keeping at something consistent for a year, and yet the celebratory piece ended up being nearly a month late.  I doubt this piece is even good, but then I have been doubting myself a lot lately, and perhaps I am my own harshest critic.
 
I have had enough negativity for one post, so here is an intro.  When I started posting here beyond just having a placeholder portfolio after college, the first picture I drew was my rendition of Willy Wonka, from Roald Dahl's classic book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  That drawing was originally intended as one of a series of my takes on the characters from that story (inspired more by the movies, since I am more familiar with them).  I have not done much with that idea since then, but I thought I could draw quick glimpses into what I was thinking for the others with the scene where they are about to enter the Wonka Chocolate Factory.

From left to right (if you cannot tell), I have the Beauregardes, the Buckets, the Salts, the Teevees and the Gloops.  Each one was meant to have a matching or close color to sort them (again, color freak talking), though I wanted to try having some unique shapes or stances, as well.  For example, because Veruca Salt's dad owns a successful business for shelling peanuts, I decided to give them big coats which resemble peanuts (also a chihuahua to emphasize Veruca's greed), but I still gave them red pants to match them as child and parent.

I used the grid many times in this picture, particularly for the brown brick texture on the outside, which I drew myself, unlike the gray bricks on the ground.  The grid also allowed me to detail the factory's brick lines.  The most important grid-based detail, however, were the black gates, which started as several lines crisscrossing and then "opened".  I do worry the way I shaded them (which was a shortcut) may not make the gates as clear as I had hoped.

Otherwise, the only other thing I want to mention here are the boarded-up windows.  Wonka keeps his candy recipes secret, so why would he even have windows in the first place?  Well, Wonka did once have his factory more accessible to the public, and such access allowed people like Arthur Slugworth to send spies into the factory.  Many people board up windows on buildings when their business closes (or if a window breaks), so these boards are a relic of the period when the Wonka factory closed.  Even though he makes candy again now, those boarded-up windows are one of Wonka's precautions to keep other chocolatiers from stealing his secrets.

Typing this entry ended up being kind of therapeutic.  Maybe I was simply feeling lousy at the beginning of this post.  This year, I do hope to figure something out about my life.  I just have to figure out what form my golden ticket will take.