SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival 2012

Every year, SCAD hosts the Sidewalk Arts Festival in Forsyth Park. Every artist gets a square and a box of chalk. It is one of my favourite events at SCAD, since the whole community comes out to view the art. People come by your square and talk to you, comment on your art, share stories, etc. They also bring out all their cute dogs, and this year there was even a tortoise (it was huge)!

This is the square I drew, now in the alumni section:

I loved my toucan design. I'll certainly draw him again for a full-fledged illustration.

For the background I just went with freestyle whatever. Now I wish I had done something exclusively green and vibrant. I had an original plan for the background that I ended up scrapping because it was going to take too long and I wouldn't be done by judging time. I didn't win anyway, but I still really like my toucan.

Either way, I always intended to leave some of the sidewalk showing since I love the contrast of the dull gray of the sidewalk, which makes the chalk stand out.

The "Pura Vida Costa Rica" I added on a whim. We do have lots of beautiful tropical birds there, and who knows? Maybe some of the festival goers have visited CR too. So it was me saying: "I'm Costa Rican, come say hi."