Bad Illustration?

We've seen them before. In ads, in editorials, in newspapers. I don't know about you, but I've seen some of these bad illustrations and thought to myself "I could do a better job".

I'm no Peter De Seve, but I've been growing... so this weeks digital illustration assignment is to choose a "bad" illustration and recreate it as if we had been chosen to do the job.

I had picked a couple of things I'd seen around the mall and in magazines. That was until I went to the store last night and walked down the cereal isle.


This monstrosity hit me in the face. I couldn't believe that a company as large as General Mills would allow this to be printed.

These are some of my rough sketches trying to get a feel for both sketching in digital format (something that is relatively new for me) and the type of character I want to portray.
I'm fairly sure that I want to keep a sort of retro feel for the illustration. So I'll probably go for either the kid or the woman... but there are still plenty of ideas. After I narrow that down, I'll have to decide if I'm going to use multiple applications or mix traditional media...

Tiki Princess & progression

I normally do these girls digitally, but I want to keep practicing my gouache techniques, and well, I was having some fun with it. I really need to practice my line quality, but I'm still relatively new to using ink and pens. There IS a reason I never went into brain surgery.

I love her chubby thighs and calves, but I think I really want to work on her ankles/feet. I'll more than likely do a digital version so that there is a consistency with the art... but I like the way she came out.