Teddy Roosevelt and Skip

I created this illustration for the cover of a book about President Theodore Roosevelt and his pet dog Skip. Roosevelt adopted the stray terrier while on a hunting trip in the mountains and took him to live in the White House. I've included some sketches and major steps in the process of creating the final image.

An early layout of the design as a collage of images with the mountains in the foreground

Some sketches focusing on Skip

A version of the image with Skip's front paws included and the characters breaking out of the frame

We decided to leave Skip's paws out of the image and make his face a little more realistic.

The initial black and white version of the image in a scratchboard style, created in Photoshop

I added mountains in the background, using a light purple hue to convey a sense of distance.

I then blocked in the main colors.

For the final image, I added some subtler shading and highlights.

↑Back to Top