“When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it’s best to let him run.”
– Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
The key, boys and girls, is to moisturize.
Feeling saggy? Feeling baggy? Perhaps you can relate to this sketch I whipped up last night. There was no rhyme or reason for it – just felt like drawing an elephant in the ol’ sketchbook, and happened to find a great elephant quote from Abraham Lincoln this morning. Though, I’m not quite sure what kind of experience Lincoln had with elephants – outside of the Republican party, that is.
While I know that it has been really hot across the United States these past few months, Southern California has had one of the most mild, beautiful summers in all the years I’ve lived here – until this week. This has been a sweltering week in Los Angeles, so of course, as that great leader of jurisprudence known as “Murphy” would have it, my air conditioning ceased to condition my air.
In sitting here waiting for the arrival of the repair men, I was thumbing through my sketchbook and came across this polar bear sketch drawn earlier this year. Even though he came from my own pencil, I couldn’t help but wonder if his smug little expression was coming from the fact that he was enjoying crisp, cool temperatures while I most definitely was not. He just stood there mocking me.
A polar bear enjoying the cool degrees of his summer. Either that or he’s listening to Barry Manilow. Hard to tell, really.
So, now the repair men have come and performed their patriotic duty. My air is working just in time to keep the paint from peeling off the walls, and I’m standing in front of my vent with a satisfied stance not unlike my fuzzy friend above.
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973)
As I continue to add creations to my sketchbook, various beasts and creatures continue to come forth. This dragon oozed out of my pencil unexpectedly with that mean, hungry and determined expression. Decided the sweet little bird would be the focus of his attention. It’s never any fun being the prey. All you can hope for is to choke the aggressor.
If you haven’t visited the Help the Hodges auctions on eBay yet, yesterday I posted another 71 reasons you should check it out. We currently have 122 items of original cartoon art, fine art, prints, posters, sculptures and books all for sale to help the family of Matthew Hodge, the teen who is presently in a coma from a car accident with a train in the Franklin, Tennesse area.
Yesterday’s posts include art by the great movie poster illustrator Drew Struzan, Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park, Lilo & Stitch creator Chris Sanders, Glen Keane animation art, drawings from Princess & the Frog animators, so much art from former Disney artists, and even art from classic Disney films including a Mickey Mouse drawing by Frank Thomas, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men.
Towards the end of the Mickey art is a painting I did based on when I worked on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So, if you’ve been itchin’ for something by me, CLICK HERE to go right to the piece on eBay!
To see all the art Help the Hodges has on eBay, CLICK HERE!
This painting will be available on eBay until February 7th.
Today’s monster comes in the form of a creepy, elderly, wizened goat guy. Anytime you see some squinty eyes and a Fu Manchu dangling from a dude’s chin, pay close attention to whatever comes out of his mouth. Those are sure outward signs that he is full of wisdom. And if he has a cool looking cane, also show some respect lest he rap you on the head with it.
You’d think with all that wisdom that he would have taken better care of his teeth.
Welcome to the last of my “Haiku Ewe” posts. If you haven’t been following along, “Haiku Ewe” is a web comic by Big Al the gal on GoComics.com. She asked me to fill in for a week when she injured her drawing hand. It was fun illustrating Al’s sweet, little lamb by putting her into scenes of impending doom all while set to contemplative haiku poetry.
Today, you will see the lamb intrigued by some berries, despite a fierce bear about to get all naturey on her. Below are the various steps from sketch to final comic. Enjoy!
This is the rough pencil drawing submitted to Big Al the gal for approval.Here’s the colored pencil line that was drawn onto some nice watercolor paper.The uncropped watercolored piece. Details to be finessed in the next stage!And here’s the final with Big Al’s haiku. I have worked quite a bit for Disney, and am a Disney guy at heart. Only one friend noticed the hidden Mickey in this piece. I even used to hide Mickey in still life oil paintings back in art school.
Well, thanks for following along with these “Haiku Ewe” posts. If you missed any, please CLICK HERE to see a list of them here on the blog, and enjoy! Next week I shall return to thoughts and art of a different nature. Perhaps I’ll share with you some photos of my experience at this year’s San Diego Comic Con!
Welcome to the fourth in my 5-part series of the step-by-step creation of my week’s worth of “Haiku Ewe” comics seen on GoComics.com last week. Thursday’s comic once again pits our little lamb in mortal danger – this time at the hands of a conniving wolf. While that is indeed scary, what might be scarier is the realization that wolves can write, and sheep can read.
Well, that is neither here nor there. Let’s just get on with the artwork, shall we? By the way, all the images today can be enlarged if you click on them.
Enjoy!
Here is the pencil rough drawn on tracing paper. While Big Al always wrote the haikus, I had my bit of fun coming up with the words on the signs. It’s not every day you get to be punny.Here’s the final pencil drawing (with colored pencils) with just a splash of paint on the background so far. I typically paint the element that’s furthest away first, and work my way to the front.The painted version without any finishing touches like additional colored pencil or highlights, shadows, words on the signs, etc.Here is the cropped final with all the little touches that make the artwork pop.
Be sure to come back tomorrow to see Friday’s final post on my guest artist week of “Haiku Ewe”!
Below is the third of my step-by-step of the process in doing the “Haiku Ewe” comic illustrations that appeared on GoComics.com the week of July 20-24. This particular comic was there just one week ago today.
Today’s comic continues the week long theme of the lamb being in mortal danger, but unlike the other days, this one shows her escaping what would surely have been a death of starvation down in that pit. It was nice of the gophers to lend a hand – er, head – wasn’t it?
Well, below are the various stages that I took the time to scan with limited comments. If you’d like to see previous posts on this series, just CLICK HERE!
Here’s the rough pencil version drawn on tracing paper. I will later tape this to the back of watercolor paper and trace it through by using a light table.
Black Grape Prismacolor pencil for the final line once again, with various stages of lighter colors the further back you go to help create depth.
Here’s the final uncropped painting. You can see that I used an airbrush in the pit. This was to help evenly darken areas without losing the integrity of the brushed on paint underneath it. You can see on the left where I was holding it.
And here’s the final with Big Al’s haiku. That “pop up” text kept me thinking of gophers popping up to help the lamb. A friend said something about it in conversation that led me to have her using the gophers as a kind of ladder out of the pit.
Come back again tomorrow to see all the art leading up to Thursday’s final image.
