Penguins in progress

After a long break due to prior engagement, I've recently returned to working on the book about the penguins. I would like to share bits of the process.
This is the story of an illo which tells about tourists that visit the penguin's beach. The tourists take pictures and sometimes throw coins at the penguins. This was the first version:


(click the image to enlarge)

I wasn't happy about it, but I didn't know why exactly, so I asked for my mentor's help - Mr. Danny Kerman, who is a well known illustrator and writer in Israel, a very nice person, and an excellent teacher. His remarks were that the people are all facing forward in an unnatural way, and look detached from the penguin. He also said I should improve the way different materials meet - for example, the way the ship's body meets the see, the way the water meets the shore, and so on. I found his remarks inspiring, and created a new version for this illo, which started with the following sketch:



I've done a few changes in the sketch, which were reducing the tilt of the ship, so that the people won't look as if they're falling, and moving the penguin down and out of the frame. This is the final outcome:


(click the image to enlarge)

This is better, although I'm afraid that the people and the penguin still look a bit detached. However, I'm not sure if I'll have the emotional strength to do it all over again... for the third time! I'll wait till the rest of the book is done, and decide than.

Here are two more sketches which are waiting to become colored illos:


I'll tell this sketch's story on my next post:



Let me just add, after two days of hard work, my back is killing me. Just one of the risks in this trade. I have to go back to Yoga.