Painted: A Junior Narrative Illustration by Reid Shimabukuro (2018)

The title of my original flash fiction is “Painted.” The story stars two art students, Carl and Lyle, who have been artistic rivals for years. When arrogant Lyle receives yet another medal of excellence for his newest creation while gloating to the disgruntled class, Carl goes on a jealous power fantasy and strikes Lyle in anger, only to realize too late that he has just gone on to create a larger problem for the class.

Right off of the bat I knew that I wanted to portray Lyle, taking into account his exaggerated character traits. I started with some rough sketches of the animals(a weasel, peacock, and vulture), as well as a rough sketch of the classroom scene I wanted to try and recapture from my fiction. I struggled to find the best angle to work with involving the scene, since at first trying to get the low shot I wanted was going to be extremely difficult considering that I also wanted to include space for the character and a piece of artwork for them to show off. As for the animals themselves, I wanted each of them to represent one of Lyle’s vices, with the weasel being his sleaziness, the vulture being his tendency to pick on those weaker than him, and the peacock to show his pride. I gave him a smock to incorporate the studio art theme and a crown(which he happens to wear as necklace given his strange head size) to show his imagination of him as a king among the other students. I was rather happy that I was able to create my first complete illustration but if could add to it I would definitely try to incorporate more details and drawing nuances to give it more life.