CGAN Dec 2017 - ELVES! - WIPs

When I saw the title my first thought was, "Oooh I think I'll do one of those pompous, snobby Elves from Tolkien."
But now I've actually read the post, I guess I won't.

Always read the brief before starting.

This is a tough one.
Usually when I don't get an idea straight away I spend some time on Google images looking for inspiration or reference or mood. But with this, whenever you google Christmas Elves the only thing (the ONLY thing) it displays ... is that God-awful Elf On The Shelf thing.
Every single picture is that terrible little monstrosity!
I hate it!!!!

Anyway with that rant over I'll calmly add that I think I do have an idea now and have started a sketch that hasn't been immediately ditched. Not enough to post yet but I'll see how it goes.

Ok, here goes.
I thought I'd try and do something like a children's book cover for this, complete with a silly little story. I call it "The Mystery Gift and the Curious Elf."
The story is that an orphaned elf (there are far too many orphans in kids stories!) has finished helping Santa deliver presents when he finds one enormous gift-wrapped box left over.
Excited by his discovery he opens it only to find another wrapped present inside but this one is obviously recognisable as it's shaped like a big teddy bear. Liking the idea of the cuddly toy he opens it and finds no teddy bear. Instead there's another wrapped gift inside and again it looks obvious from its shape.
This keeps repeating, each new gift looks like a toy but only reveals another wrapped gift; a bike, a ball, a model car, etc. each getting smaller until right at the end when he's left with none of the toys he thought he'd find. Instead he has one tiny wrapped box.
He opens that last one and finds not a toy or a game but the promise of an intangible gift, the one he always wanted... Friendship. Hope for the future. A loving family he can call his own! Or perhaps some other insufferably trite nonsense.







It does look a bit sparse in places but I wanted to keep it simple with time vanishing over Christmas. I may add some more details if I get chance. One thing I'll definitely be doing is extending the canvas vertically to add the necessary text for the book title. (Oh, and hands too, I suppose. )

Have to admit, I'd never heard of the 'Elf on the shelf' stuff myself. But after a quick google, and a couple quick articles, I see some are going over-board with it. But that's pretty much how humans handle most things.

Looking good, Valence. Only thing I might mention, is that's a pretty small tag for such a large present. One would think the tag would be somewhat bigger from POV.

Great idea, Valence. Well done