Recently I thought about starting up my toy house or even just adding some kind of character description. It didn't work out. However, the idea of ​​giving my protagonists a drawing remained, instead of just depicting animated celebrities. So Jua from the Thorn Grove, daughter of Mzaa, and Pumuzi from Red Fork Tree, son of the Koo, should have their spot, as these spotty creatures take up the most space in my 1kg "Gephleckt" novel (https://www.gephleckt.de/).

Actually, the two deserve a hundred more drawings, them and Milele, the Eternal and Mnuko and Mbwa and Mvyele and her lions and Ngwena and Fisi and Memba and all the other swashbucklers and good-for-nothings and beasts. But today we'll stick with the two spotties: Here Pumuzi, also called "Phleck", is sneaking around the otherwise rather prickly Jua, also known as "Tawny"; Mnuko is crouching off to the side, only moderately amused. I can't reveal how much of the scene corresponds to what happened in the book.

Since there are ferals, they should be situated authentically in the savannah, surrounded by nothing but grass and the three stones on Pumuzi's hill, whatever a hill in the great plains means. The result couldn't be more ambivalent, because there are a lot of things about this piece I really like and one big thing that terribly bothers me.

Let's start with the annoying: the background. Although it is exactly the color I had in mind, the result is unfortunately just a huge pile of mud. I had used too much water or too little color in the first layer, so the contrast wasn't great. When I tried a second layer, it got bad all over, and even the grass that was mentioned later couldn't save it.

It's a shame, because the wild background means the cheetahs don't really stand out, although I think they turned out really well for my standards. I love Pumuzi's front legs. The blue-cold white areas blend well into the fur color. It just looks incredibly messy because the adjacent background looks like a pile of water spots. And that's exactly what they are. It's a shame, because the mood of the whole drawing is exactly how I wanted it to be.

It's a bit frustrating because with every new piece brings something good or new insights, but there hasn't been one drawing where all the good things come together. So i'll keep practicing.

Here they are: »Jua and Pumuzi«