There are days when I’m super creative and can barely keep up with putting my ideas down on paper. And then there are days like this, when I just want to mindlessly copy hieroglyphs. I use this time for simple, repetitive tasks like this illustration here, which is meant to show that the ancient Egyptians really did use every little bit of space on a building or sculpture to fill it with writing. Here, I first sketched out the hieroglyphs with a fine pencil.

I’m not basing this on original texts, but I’m trying to write authentic hieroglyphs and create a natural-looking script, since this is a children’s book illustration and not a historically accurate reproduction of an artifact. After the preliminary sketch, I fill in the hieroglyphs with pigments from watercolor pencils, which I then activate with a little water at the end to create an antique look.
Do you ever have those days where you just can’t get anything done, but still have to do something so your feelings of guilt don’t get the best of you? ;)