Surfer Mickey

It has been many years since I first moved to Florida. Since then I have moved away and come back about a half-dozen times. Wherever I go, when people hear I am from Florida, they ask about Disney. It seems that Mickey Mouse is the unofficial mascot for our state. It's no wonder then that I get asked all the time why I haven't drawn Mickey. The number one glaring reason it that Mickey IS such an iconic character that to begin, you are putting a target on yourself for copyright action. I'll be honest here; I do get approached from time to time by copyright lawyers regarding some of the art I create. So far it has never amounted to more than requests not to use certain keywords, search terms, or to not offer the image on print-on-demand royalty sites. I always comply.

The second reason is that the simpler the design, the greater room for error. Nailing a character like Mickey is tough. Every line and shape has to be exactly where it needs to be, or you should just do a figurative interpretation to avoid scrutiny. I decided to go for a version of Mickey that has the look and feel of his origins. The early black and white Mickey cartoons took the mouse through a few developmental changes, particularly in the length of his nose. Since Mickey spends all of his time in Florida and California, I just thought it was appropriate for him to take a little time to catch some waves when he can.

I used Strathmore mixed media paper here and started out with a pencil sketch that was changed many times. After landing something I liked, I used Pigma Micron pens to take car of the outline and a Pigma Micron marker to fill in the large black areas. The final step was to paint the watercolor with Winsor and Newton paints.

Please email me at bryancollinsart@gmail.com for original or print purchase inquiries.