Gingerbread Man and the Design Process

How do I take my designs from a concept in my head to the painted garment? Usually it all begins with a bunch of sketches on random scraps of paper, like the margins of papers the kids bring home from school. The one for this week that I had been mulling over for a long time is the running gingerbread man from the fairy tale. This would be good for November, when holiday themes like gingerbread would resonate well, but could be worn any time of year.

I re-read the story and sketched the gingerbread man being chased by the cow and the pig. But I wasn't sure I liked that concept, so I tapped one of my main resources--my six year old. I asked her to draw the story for me and she did a great job: she drew the start (house, man and woman), the gingerbread man, and the end (wolf , river). Perfect! So then I drew my version of her sketch.

Once I had a sketch I liked, I scanned it in to the computer so that I could make it the eventual size I wanted to paint. Then I printed that and put it on a light box to make a clean ink tracing. This becames my pattern for the painting.

Sometimes I know what colors I want to use, other times I color it a few different ways to try out color ideas. The best part is seeing the final design on fabric. It looks different wet and dry, when the paint meshes with the underlying fabric color. Even with all my preparation, the final result is always a surprise even to me.