For some reason I can always find inspiration in Don Quixote, perhaps it's because he is the quintessential dreamer. That, and he's really fun to draw, I always imagined him as tall and gangly. Though I suppose what always made the character most appealing was his sense of justice and nobility, which even exited in the strangest of situations.

This scene in particular is pretty famous, being the only reference to either the book or musical most folks seem to know. It's probably because the scene is so memorable, and one of the best examples of the contrast of Quixote's fantasy and reality. Still, I suppose that's also why I drew it. That and to practice more with my oil color pencils. I experimented with layering this time, mainly on the armor and skin.

P.S. For those of you who would point it out, I know he was on horseback, and without the golden helmet. The problem is I have trouble with horses, and I prefer the helmet. Also, if you just wanted to know where this comes from I have an excerpt below.

"At this point they came in sight of thirty forty windmills that there are on plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his squire, 'Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth.'

'What giants?' said Sancho Panza.

'Those thou seest there,' answered his master, 'with the long arms, and some have them nearly two leagues long.'

'Look, your worship,' said Sancho; 'what we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the sails that turned by the wind make the millstone go.'

'It is easy to see,' replied Don Quixote, 'that thou art not used to this business of adventures; those are giants; and if thou art afraid, away with thee out of this and betake thyself to prayer while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat.'"

—Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Don Quixote, Chapter VIII