Summer in Saigon

Alright, first real drawing in over a year, YEAAAH!!

I was actually planning on submitting this on Veteran's Day, but I didn't get it done in time, so that was a no-go. :/ Whatever, I submitted it now, and I'm quite content with that.

This is my character from my story Wilbur "Willy" Malakar, in the summer of 1968 during his time in Vietnam. Ever since I created this character when I was, like... 9, I've always pictured a tough, survivalist American "get-er-done" kinda character, with some sort of military background. Ever since I created this character, I've developed a fascination for the Vietnam War over the years. When I drew this, I used as much reference as possible for details such as the background and Willy's uniform.

I drew this in the most conventional way. Just sketched it out first and then went over it in ink. I'm a little disappointed with how the shading turned out, I know I still need to practice on that. It also got kinda messy, and there was so much smudging, but in the end, it actually helped me out in that it kinda gave this picture a gritty, dirty look, just like one of those old Vietnam-era black-and-white photos.

To be honest, I don't draw jungles at all, I haven't draw them in an EXTREMELY long time, so needless to say, drawing that jungle background was pretty interesting. The uniform was a lot of fun, though! Like I said, I tried to use as much reference as I could for the 1960s-era army uniform. As for the M16A1 assault rifle, I'm proud to say I actually drew that from memory!^^ (That is one of my most FAVORITE assault rifles after all!). Overall, I'm quite proud of this picture, and I'm very happy with the details, and the overall presentation of the image.