Asheville Postcard Sketches: Bears & Storytelling

Today’s assignment at My Imaginary Art School was to pick three ideas from yesterday’s rough sketches and expand on them. This time, I decided I wanted to create illustrations that would work as cute Asheville postcards—like the kind you might find at a souvenir shop. Instead of filling in every detail, I tried to focus on cutting things down to the essentials. I wanted to keep the designs simple but still make sure they clearly captured what makes Asheville so special. …That said, I do have a habit of cramming in way too many details, so I kind of ended up drawing a lot anyway.

Idea 1 is a bear couple—or maybe just two bear friends—hiking together and enjoying the mountain view. Idea 2 is Asheville animals pretending to be aristocrats at the Biltmore. I’m still struggling with how the squirrel, bear, and deer relate to each other though. Idea 3 is a group of bears enjoying local beer and food at one of Asheville’s lush, outdoor beer gardens.

Tomorrow, I’m planning to narrow it down to two ideas and really try to simplify them even more—fewer objects, more story told through the characters’ expressions and the composition. That’s the challenge!