I have a wicked sense of humor, there is no doubt about that when you look at what artwork I like to create for fun. A while back, while discussing Shakespeare and cartoon characters, I had the belief that our loveable bear Winnie the Pooh could retell Hamlet in a disturbing but humorous way. Needless to say, I had to capture it on paper.
This is the drawing I took 3 days to ink out after doing a couple rough sketches to get the poses down right. I wanted to capture the original artwork style used in the Winnie the Pooh that I grew up on. Lots of detail, especially in the scenery around them. Not to be too philisophical on the entire piece but I used pooh as the representation of the madness which consumed Hamlet, who in this picture, is Piglet and of course Rabbit is the tormented friend Horatio.
Once the drawing was complete I took it into photoshop and gave it some basic coloring, enough so you could gather the time of day, or night in this case, in which the madness has finally taken poor Hamlet to the grave.
Of course next had to be some detailing, starlight in the background along with shadows and soft casted lighting.
And this is the final piece, wrapped up in Illustrator, by bold golds, blues and pinks to add to the overall image. I think, in the end, Shakespeare would be proud of this classic retelling.