I had a lot of fun working with the folks at Random House — including one of Richard Scarry's actual art directors, as well as his son, Huck — to create an original pencil and watercolor piece depicting Busytown. There is so much going on in Busytown that I thought I'd show a few closeups here as well as talk about the process.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/iQ9guNqGrPpl6CI...PoQ4x5UVwE0=s0
The drawing was done in pencil, then scanned digitally and printed out in solid black on clear film, or acetate.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/Meq05OQ0CD6bij3...uACJDExpCLo=s0
The drawing was then transferred to illustration board in blue pencil so I could work on the painting on a separate layer.
Scarry's technique allowed him to work pretty loosely with his watercolors, and he'd frequently paint off-register, that is, not quite up to [or way beyond] the line drawing. This gave his illustrations an even more lighthearted quality. In our case, it's Richard Scarry's Best Google Doodle Ever!
posted by Mike Dutton