24/30 Days of Illustration – Camping in the Early Morning Sunshine

Whenever I go camping, I always get so cold and tired, but for some reason I keep going. I love camping. The experience of being out in nature, with nothing else around you for miles is wonderfully refreshing. All the burdens we carry around with us in our normal lives don’t matter when we’re off camping and hiking.

The inspiration for this image was a camping trip to Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. It was cold and my tent was whipped about by the winds on the hillside, but waking up at 4am to have cocoa and watch the sun rise was the best, and it’s that experience which has stayed with me. I wanted to capture the essence of that memory in this drawing.

The tent is shielded by the thick grasses and shrubby bushes that cover the mountainside. I like the contrast of the colours in this picture. Obviously I have to go camping more and do a series of pictures like this one! Looking forward to my next trip…