New Stuff Available: Dance of the Elephants

I have posted a new item for sale on my website and my Zazzle Store.

This is a delightful series of illustrations depicting an awkward elephant dancing gracefully across your mug or your wall.

The Mug can be found at my Zazzle Store.

A 3.5 x 17 limited edition print can be purchased here.

#81 and #88 of 100 Elephants: Aliens

I had been thinking about doing an alien for some time. I was not happy with #81 so a few numbers latter I reproached it. I feel I pushed the idea farther with #88. He looks more alien with the multiple eyes and legs.

#67– #69 of 100 Elephants: back to the robots

I thought it would be best to show all three of theses at once.

One of the things I love most about this exercise is the exploration of options. It forces you to look for different ways of drawing the same thing. You take a theme and push it in different directions. I had drawn an elephant robot earlier and thought I was done. As I continued the process of exploring, I realized there were different options. I particularly enjoyed the idea of the trunk being a vacuum and the different places that took me with the robot.

Gallery Opening and Presentation Tonight

Tonight I will be exhibiting my process of writing and illustrating in preparation for sending a book to publishers. The reception starts at 6 pm in the Quimby Gallery with a presentation at 7:30 in the  Burke Mountain Room on the Lyndon State College Campus.

#7 of 100 Elephants, Tall and Thin

With #7, I reacted to the stockiness of number 6 and went the opposite direction. Notice how I elongated the tusks as an added emphasis to the lankiness of the character. Not the most original, but it shows one way to think about the creative process and exploring options.

#2 of 100 Elephants Goofy

For the second elephant I took some inspiration from Goofy. I pushed the thinness and awkward nature of the character. At the time I thought this was pretty extreme and a far cry from my normal elephant drawings.

#1 of 100 Elephants

This last semester I gave my introductory visual arts class an assignment to create 100 somethings. I took the challenge myself and created 100 different elephants. It was an incredible exercise in creativity. I often found myself stuck and then would have this burst of inspiration using my ideas to unique and new directions. I also determined to go completely traditional and practice my use of the pen.

It was frustrating and exciting.

These will be on display in the Quimby Gallery at Lyndon State College between January 23 and March 16 as part of the “the minuscule, wee teensy-weensy, tiny, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, eensy, infinitesimal, very small miniature diminutive, lilliputian mini art show with a mega LARGE title” exhibit. Anyone can create a work of art that is 2 x 3.5 inches and send it to the gallery between Jan 23 and March 13 and it will be hung.

In addition to that I will be selling the original 100 elephants for $5 each. If you are interested contact me. I am in the process of setting up an online store and will announce when that is done.

Todays Drawing

Working more on character design and just having fun drawing.

A New Project

I started preliminary studies for my next project. The book is set in Cambodia and will be featuring elephants as the main characters. As part of the process of designing the characters, I am studying how to draw realistic elephants first. Even though I have done many many studies of elephants in the past, I still feel this is necessary. Even though I have drawn numerous elephants in the past, I am consistently amazed at the new aspects of the elephant that I see.

A Few Notes: the 2016 Faculty Exhibit

This year faculty from the Visual Arts department selected original compositions or performances from the Music and Business Industry faculty to be inspired by. I selected Professor Tim Saeed's performant of Chopin's Nocturne Op. 27 No.2

I couldn't resist revisiting themes from high school and drawing elephant's in pink tutus.

The work is being exhibited at the Quimby Gallery on Lyndon State College's campus until January 2017.

Elephant Gestures

Here is a page of elephant gestures that I drew while at the Granby Zoo last week. As I mentioned in my last post I need to get to the point where I can remember what I am looking at and do more detailed studies. I am currently looking at Aaron Berchild's work for inspiration. I want to get closer to his observational skills. This will take time.

Olympic Feats

As always, it has been enjoyable watching the Olympics this year, and In honor of the 2012 Summer Olympics I thought I would post this illustration I created a few years ago. I love watching synchronized swimming. I don't really know why, it just fascinates me.

Heights (Illustration Friday)

This is an illustration I did for the currently unpublished book The Twelve Elephants of Christmas. This one is 10 Elephants a-Leaping and they have reached new heights.