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.