Parasaurolophus-Type Dinosaur

I broke out my colored pencils - which have languished in a drawer for maybe a decade---? to try some color (so please be gentle, it has been so long, and I have a lot to learn, still). I love sketches and black & white ink or pencil work, but I've been rusty with color, so this was good practice.

This is for my friend Thaily, who has been so helpful and supportive of me over these many years. It's a "fantasy" dino because I had fun with anatomy and color (I know Parasaurolophus-type dinos may not have had that neck-flap from the "horn", for instance), but it was an enjoyable experiment. Thanks for everything, Thaily!

It is small, under 5", and was done with Prismacolor pencils (mostly) on laser printer paper.

Winged Lion - Beasts of Yore

This Winged Lion was originally designed for The Beasts of Yore Portfolio, a collection of artwork by 12 different artists depicting many strange, unique and mythical creatures from tales of yore. Each image was accompanied by an original story! Though the book is now out of print, if you would like to see more of the art, please go here: Beasts of Yore.



I know I had posted a preview of this, but I had not posted the final piece. I've posted the final pencil drawing, as well as the finished color piece, so you can see a little bit of my process. When I work like this, with a pencil original and then digital color, often much more of my time is spent working on the pencil art than on the digital color (and I still use a mouse; I need to get out my tablet and practice). I love to draw in pencil, and it's one of my favorite things to do, but it is a very time-consuming process.

The winged lion is a very, very old symbol; as you may know, many ancient cultures have their own beautiful versions and stories behind them (and I love them all! I collect lions and lion imagery, among other things). For my piece, I narrowed it down and finally chose to do one as was often featured in heraldry, as I love working with the stylizations, though I love winged lions of all kinds. Years ago I had done one for a Typography project but was pressed for time and wasn't happy with the outcome, so I was glad for the opportunity to do a nicer one.

This was done in mechanical pencil on Bristol, then colored in Photoshop CS3. I scanned in some papyrus and used it for the background.

Should you be interested, Limited Edition Prints are available here, at my Storenvy Store. Thanks for looking!

Ratha's Creature Kickstarter Challenge Support Art

Here's a picture I drew to help promote a Kickstarter project for Ratha's Creature, which will be a graphic novel based on one of my favorite books as a kid (which is also a great read for adults), by the wonderful Clare Bell. Though the Kickstarter has ended, pre-orders for the ebook and paperback versions can still be made here.



Note, I'm not involved with the project myself, but I love the book (and series), and I had a little time to draw while recently snowed in (we got over 30"!), so I hoped to help by drawing and spreading the word. I have been a huge fan of the Named series (Ratha's Creature, Clan Ground, etc.) since I was a kid in the 80's, and have been dying to do new fanart, so here's my little homage to a fantastic character from a wonderful author of an excellent series.

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The first drawing is how I saw Ratha in my head when I first read the books. Now, I understand her species (a sentient prehistoric big cat) looks more cheetah-like now, but back in the 80's I had pictured her as a kind of puma/leopard mix, with some prehistoric sabertooth too, so that's what I drew (the author herself encourages artists to draw The Named as they see them, which I think is fantastic). The second is a detail, and the third is a big male "UnNamed" as I saw them in the book. This could be Shongshar from Clan Ground, but I think he would have somewhat longer saberteeth, so this might just be a random UnNamed instead.

Good Luck and Best Wishes to the Ratha Project! :D

Eagle-Eyed Tiger

I've been behind in posting art, so for those of you who may not have seen this elsewhere, here is a fun little exercise I painted back in the summer of 2011 - apparently I was on a fantasy-inspired tiger kick!

"Eagle-Eyed Tiger' - new band name - I call it!"



A warm-up piece inspired by a silly quote from a TV show I like. It's done in gouache on an 8" x 10" fiber board panel, like my Prehistoric Series from last year. I LOVE painting on this surface! I wanted to keep this light and stylized, and the tiger has "eagle eyes", not tiger eyes --- obviously real tigers don't look like this!

It was really busy for me back then (though it still is now, actually), so I drew the concept sketch for this, transferred it to board a month after drawing it, and finally got around to painting it a few weeks after that. I may be slow, but I am determined!

The original is available for sale here, at my Storenvy Store.

"Sonora", Mountain Lion

I don't seem to have posted this here, but as it's one of my more favorite "real" wildlife portraits, I thought I might share it. I hope you like it!

From 2010, "Sonora", a colored version of a mountain lion I'd originally drawn in my Pen Sketchbook. I had been watching the "Wild About Animals TV" show and was inspired by the animals of the Sonoran desert featured on an episode, as well as by memories of visiting the Desert Botanical Gardens in Arizona with my parents and little sister back in 1997. It was cleaned up and mouse-colored in Photoshop, with a scanned image of papyrus added.



Should you be interested, prints are available here, at my Storenvy Store, and t-shirts, mugs, totes are available my Printfection Store.

Tiger God IV version III

I had always wanted to paint my Tiger God IV from my Pen Sketchbook. Even though I had colored a version of it in Photoshop, I really enjoy actually painting whenever possible. The results are different too, as in Photoshop I only color using a mouse, while when using gouache I have better success working with textures.



This is done in gouache on a Fiber Panel Board, like my Prehistoric Series from last year, and is pretty large; it's 10" x 20". Gouache is a funny medium, though; it looks really vibrant and has a lot of depth when you see the actual paintings, but is tricky to scan... the colors are a bit harsher here, and not quite as smooth as they are if you see it in person.

It, like the original pen sketch, is supposed to be stylized; obviously real tigers don't look like this! I enjoy stylizing things my own way; there are plenty of artists out there who are much better than I am at photorealistic paintings, which is fine with me--- I''ll leave that to them and just do things my own way - which is more fun! ;D

Life's What You Make It

Baby,
life's what you make it
Celebrate it
Anticipate it
Yesterday's faded
Nothing can change it
Life's what you make it

(Everything's all right)
life's what you make it
(Everything's all right)
Life's What You Make It


((The drawing makes more sense if you've seen the video – here on YouTube. Are they fighting or dancing? It is what you make it. ;D))

Lyrics © 1985 Mark Hollis, Tim Friese-Greene // Talk Talk

ACEOs - Round Two

Hi! Here are a few more of the ACEOs I did back in May and June 2012. As I've said before, ACEOs actually work out really well for me, as I like to draw small anyway, and the cards are easy to carry around and sketch on in bits of free time. Also, they are good for working out ideas that I may develop into bigger paintings later.

    
I love thylacines, so the first (titled "Not Forgotten") is my take on one. I also love (as you probably know by now) Mesoamerican art and jaguars, so the second is another painting of a jaguar lord/Tezcatlipoca– or Tepeyollotl-type figure. The third is just a silly painting of an African Wild Dog, a species I haven't painted much (but should paint more - it's fun to try new things). They are done in pencil and gouache (some with a little ink) on illustration board. They are up for sale at my Storenvy store. I took artistic license with all three, and just tried to have fun. I have some more I will post soon.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look! :)

ACEOs

Hi everyone, as you may have noticed, I've been popping online in various social networks, but figured I'd better update here, too! I've been trundling along, fitting in art where I can. ACEOs actually work out really well for me, as I like to draw small anyway, and the cards are easy to carry around and sketch on in bits of free time. Also, they are good for working out ideas that I may develop into bigger paintings later (like the unicorn).

If you like them, some are for sale at my storenvy store. Click for a larger image.

  
  
  
  
The first three were drawn in pen over the summer of 2011, colored earlier this year. They were drawn freehand in ballpoint pen and colored later in gouache on an ACEO sketch card (90lb. weight paper stock, specifically in a Borden & Riley Artist Sketch Vellum Mini Spiral Pad). They are the standard ACEO size (which is small – 2.5" x 3.5").

1. Fox Magic V (kitsune); 2. Rusty Cage (lupine); 3. Pale Shelter (canine): Kitsune lore fascinates me, and "Rusty Cage" and "Pale Shelter" were inspired by the respecive songs.

The next batch were drawn on illustration board, and some were painted with gouache.

4. Unicorn: I find unicorns of all shapes, sizes, and conformations beautiful, whether they're the wildly fierce heraldic type, or more deer- or goat-like, or even the horned, cloven-hooved horse kind. I love to draw all different types, too, but here I was inspired to draw a more horse-like one. Fluffy manes are fun! I hope to make this into a painting. Note, this one has sold.

5. Lynx; 6. Golden Tiger (a modified "golden tabby tiger"); 7. Happy Cat: (this little smiley cat could be related to the Cheshire Cat, as a matter of fact! ; 8. Tigerish Hellcat: I have always loved to draw snarly things, even when I'm in a good mood; it's very satisfying, drawing all those curved muzzle wrinkles and teeth. I loosely term this stylized fiery creature a "hellcat".

I know, no big epic paintings from me lately, but it's either this, or nothing with what time I have... and I'd rather do something small and achievable than nothing at all! XD I will get back to bigger things someday.

Thanks, as always, for looking! :D I hope you are all well.

Werewolf Calendar 2012: Now For Sale!

Hi everyone! I apologize for being offline so much; between work, our daughter, family stuff, and lately, Hurricane Irene, I've been busy, and I know I've missed a lot here, both good and bad. I hope you all are doing well!

I did complete a very big project (literally): my piece for the 2012 Werewolf Calendar. My theme was "urban werewolves".


NOTE: Sales are now closed.

www.WerewolfCalendar.com

Join the Werewolf Calendar Community on DA: http://werewolf-calendar.deviantart.com/

About this image: I went with more of an "urban werewolf" idea, rather than a "hybrid werewolf". I love werewolves of ALL kinds, from big raging beasts to long lanky ones and everything in between, but I went with somewhat "average-sized", more lithe ones for this idea. I thought they might make more sense in a city where they don't want to stand out too much.

I wanted to try a night scene: moonlit, though the city's never REALLY dark, I suppose, with bare branches as the season is winter. I had done a sort of urban werewolf couple years ago, and this is kind of an update. The lion statue is "Patience", one of the two lions - along with "Fortitude" - from the NY Public Library. I hoped it might make a striking calendar image, plus I thought the idea of werewolves disrespecting a lion as top predator might be subtly funny.

Work notes: The original pencil drawing for this is HUGE: almost 20" wide. Last year I couldn't get in the detail I wanted working at actual size, so I drew this much larger. My pencil technique (lots of layering and push-pulling of the graphite) is very time-consuming, so this took me a very long time, but I did enjoy it. I scanned it in six sections, merged it together, then added color with a mouse in Photoshop CS3. I looked at hundreds of wolf photos and royalty-free and creative commons images for the lion and library, and the trees are based on a photo I took myself.

I hope you like it!

Just heard it's the centennial of the New York Public Library too! Neat. :)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, 2010. Merry Christmas, Joyous Yule, and Happy New Year! Whatever you celebrate, I wish you all the best. :)

Done in Adobe Illustrator CS3.

I was really pressed for time this year, so unfortunately I didn't get to do a big card-mailing. :/ I hope this (sort of) makes up for it! I'm very sorry and I hope to be able to mail out cards as usual next year.

UPDATE: Art (Pen Sketchbook: 3 Lupine Shapeshifters), Werewolf Calendar Sales Closing!, Imagekind

I'm chugging along at work and at home, but still trying to fit in some art time! Here are three pieces from my Pen Sketchbook II. The Fall (especially near Halloween) always makes me want to draw werewolves, or at least werewolf-type creatures; I don't know if these would pass for werewolves in the "this is what the general public thinks werewolves are like" sense (like The Howling or The Wolf Man), and I know people are very picky about them online too (judging by the comments I see everywhere), so to dodge the (silver?) bullet so to speak I'll just call them "lupine shapeshifters". I would like to thank all the books, calendars, and magazine clippings I've been sorting through in preparation for re-doing the living room for inspiration as well.

    
First is "Ruffian", who looks to be somewhat more of a red wolf or coyote-hybrid type guy. He came to mind while listening to Tori Amos' Don't Make Me Come To Vegas. Yeah, I know this idea has probably been done a million times before (and better, too), but who cares? He doesn't. Heck, I don't, either. I'm just glad to be drawing something!

Second is "Vagabond", a scruffy wolf-type guy, also more red-wolf-like. I love to draw big, muscular creatures with perfect pelts (as you can no doubt tell from most of my other stuff), but scraggly and lean is fun too. I tried to mix human features with the lanky frame, so his face isn't quite lupine, nor are his legs. Some wolves have surprisingly thin limbs!

Third is "Den Mother", also territory that has been crossed many times before by many artists, but it was still fun and enjoyable for me. I liked layering things up and I enjoyed doing the roundness/flatness of it. If I re-did it, or painted it, I might try to make it more realistic, as well as do a more general-public-pleasing hand/paw or full paw instead of the weird hand/paw mix thing I've got going on here, but when sketching for me I just draw what I feel like.

Thanks again for reading! I hope you all are having wonderful days. :)

Art Post: Cave Bear

Here is another painting from my "Prehistoric" series, done for a convention (see the other three in previous entries). This one, like the Giant Hyena, is approximately 12" x 12", and also on Natural Fiber Painting Panels, painted in gouache. It is based on the cave bear, Ursus spelaeus.

Like the others, this was a learning experience, and I don't claim to be completely accurate; I have so little free time I wanted to make sure art stayed "fun" for me, so I did this one like the others - as a stylized and iconic interpretation, where I took liberties with scientific accuracy. I tried to keep the colors toned down and similar for cohesiveness, as it will be with all the paintings in this series.

As always, thanks for looking!

Art Post: Giant Hyena

Here is another painting from my "Prehistoric" series for an upcoming convention (see the first two in the previous entry). This one is approximately 12" x 12", also on Natural Fiber Painting Panels, painted in gouache. It is based on the giant (or "short-faced") hyena/hyaena, like those from the genus Pachycrocuta.

Like the others, this was a learning experience, and I don't claim to be completely accurate; I have so little free time I wanted to make sure art stayed "fun" for me, so I did this one like the dire wolf and sabretooth - as a stylized and iconic interpretation, where I took liberties with scientific accuracy. I tried to keep the colors toned down and similar for cohesiveness, as it will be with all the paintings in this series.

As always, thanks for looking. Sorry I have not been on much. More art soon!

Art Post: Sabertooth & Dire Wolf

    
Here are two paintings from a "Prehistoric" series for an upcoming convention. They are 8" x 10" on Natural Fiber Painting Panels, painted in gouache. I really like the surface - I transferred a xerox of my drawing using Saral Transfer Paper onto the boards, and the lines held up under multiple washes of color. Best of all, for me, the surface didn't buckle, shred, pill, or otherwise deteriorate, a problem I'd had with other paper-based surfaces.

This was definitely a learning experience for me. I still have a long way to go to improve my lighting, anatomy, etc., but at least I found a surface that seems to work with my style.

As for the images themselves, they are my stylized, iconic interpretations of a sabretoothed cat and a dire wolf. The sabretooth I did first, and was good practice. The dire wolf is roughly based on dire wolf skulls, which are a bit thicker and broader than today's gray wolf, but are overall rather similar. Obviously with both I was playing around and not going for complete scientific accuracy. I tried to keep the colors toned down and similar for cohesiveness, as it will be with all the paintings in this series.

Sorry to be out of touch; I have not been online much lately, and the last few days not at all.

Protectors of the Small

For two wonderful people who do so much for animals...

  
Thanks for ALL you do, "laturner" and "gesthen"!
These are two little drawings (approx. 4" high) done the same way as my other sketch/art cards, on invitation stationery. The border is pearlized and embossed. I love the cards because they're small and easy to take with me, to work on in bits of free time; plus, the surface has enough tooth to take the graphite nicely, without smearing too much.

I know the animals aren't 100% accurate and in proportion (the badger is supposed to be large, more human in proportion to the bunnies, etc.), but they're meant to symbolize the recipients, so I took artistic license; they are slightly anthropomorphisized, among other things. The kittens and bunnies are loosely based on ones they've fostered, though I wanted to keep them somewhat unspecific to represent all the animals they've helped. I haven't drawn a realistic polar bear or badger in years (hmmm, if ever...?) so this was an interesting challenge for me (I like to try something/learn something new with each piece I do). I hope you like them!

So I was in a Bad Mood...

...but, after some time outside in the sunshine, plus some sketching, and some MST3K on my iPhone, I feel better.

(the thing above is a result of crankiness + research on prehistoric creatures; it's just a quick scribble)

Beasts of Yore Preview: Bixie and Winged Lion; Lion & Unicorn Tale; Old Coat of Arms

Hi guys! Been busybusybusy working on art, trying to draw at least a little every day, though lately I've been only managing maybe 20 minutes at a time!

Two things that have kept my busy are for the Beasts of Yore Portfolio; they are the Bixie (check out this guy!) and the Winged Lion. I'll go more into detail about the portfolio, the artwork, and the creatures themselves once the portfolio is ready and we're permitted to upload our full pieces. For now, I hope you like the previews!

    
Also, for fun, here's two illustrations from a book I had when I was really little, that had a lasting impression on me. It's from Best-Loved Nursery Rhymes and Songs (1974 edition). I loved the way the lion and unicorn were done - not very accurate, perhaps, but wonderfully heraldic. I loved the soft colors, too. After that is *laughs* a project from 1991 for a color class - I chose to make up my own coat-of-arms. What a mess, but still fun. XD I always loved heraldry! I featured The Five (some other old images of them: 1, 2) in it, though I played with their forms and colors. They show up in a lot of my work, though often only symbolically. Hm, I remember loving to paint on colored board; I should do it more.

    

I'm Still Alive...

... just in the bowels of Trade Show preparation. This is typically the craziest time of the year at work (my 9-5 job, not my personal stuff), and this year is no exception.

However, I am still drawing in bits & pieces of spare time! I still have other things to post, but for now, here's a little ACEO-sized pen and white pencil drawing on some chipboard:



I've been inspired in part by all the prehistoric creature reference books I've been reading/researching lately, in preparation for a summer art show. Still hoping to have lots of new stuff! I would like to make this into a full-color painting, maybe with him as a white lion. Though I don't play it myself, I think there is something in the World of Warcraft game that looks like this, but he's not based on that; back in college in the 90's I'd drawn him on the back of a spiral notebook, and the chipboard's color and texture reminded me of that cardboard back cover, so here he is, in 2010 form.

More soon! Hope you all are well!

Happy Holidays!

(click for full)


Wishing ALL of you wonderful holidays and all sorts of good things!