studying Slobodkin’s illustrations

I love this illustration from the book The Hundred Dresses (page 14). The original artist, Louis Slobodkin, actually studied as a sculptor before finding his way into illustration.

I had to warm up with a colored pencil sketch and then a still-not-very-precise study before I was ready to try copying the whole illustration. My final version is large-scale compared to the printed reference, measuring 20×22.5 inches.

Ink, watercolor, and oil pastel on paper.