Happy Mother's Day (a few days early)

So, Mother's Day has rolled around once again. That's my cue to buckle down and draw something cute for my mom. This year she gets this cherubic kitten handing his mom some irises and daisies. When you don't know what to say, say it with flowers. And when you're too cheap to say it with flowers, say it with a drawing of someone saying it with flowers.

About the drawing: It's cute, but this is the kind of illustration that art directors look at and think, "meh." Trust me on this. However, it's also the kind of drawing that my mom cherishes and keeps in her purse for a week so she can casually show everyone she meets in the course of her day. 

"So...did you see this beautiful card my son drew for me?"

"Lady, just drop the fare in the box and siddown...I got other stops to make."

Anyway, that's the important thing...that my mom likes the card. Especially since, as coincidence would have it, my birthday follows sometime shortly after Mother's Day every year. And you should never underestimate the augmentative effect a sweet, handmade Mother's Day card can have on a subsequent birthday gift. 

Here's the original sketch I did when I came up with the idea. The cats at the far left are a little rough but I was just trying to get the general idea down on paper. And you can see the original kitten had his hand behind his back, but it looked confusing so I changed it. Then I refined the sketch with a polished drawing, scanned it into Photoshop and started laying down color.

These final steps are pretty basic. Just slopping down color until I get it looking the way I want it. I toyed with the idea of having some text at the top of the image but in the end I decided the plain image said it best. And if you forgot to buy a card for Mother's Day, feel free to stop back here Sunday with your mom, show her this post and say, "he drew what was in my heart, ma!" She'll be truly touched. Although, I cannot promise you that'll earn you an awesome birthday present in return. -v