"David the Shepherd" is a watercolor piece I created for an art installation in Jessup's Library in October of 2023. I collaborated with a group of artists to decide on the theme of storytelling and specifically the Biblical story of David and Goliath. My piece was the first in a set of five, showcasing David's background as a shepherd. The other artists in my group created pieces of David fighting a lion and bear, David's brothers in a panic because of Goliath, David fighting Goliath, and David's victory. We each approached our pieces with different media and styles to showcase how different people can come together to tell stories in unique ways, but we maintained some common elements to make the character of David identifiable in the progression of scenes.

I started out my piece by gathering references. The first image below is one that I used as inspiration for my piece and the other two were references I used more directly for the composition and details of my work.

My initial sketched helped me work out the layout of the scene as well as the position and design of the central figure, David, as well as his sheep. The images in the center below show how I converted the photo of my friend into a more cartoonish illustration style that nods to the love of stories that I developed as a child.

After my practice sketches, I moved into the final drawing and started the watercolor process, shown in my progress photos below!