#50 of 100 Elephants: The Blossoming Elephadill

Half way through the 100 Elephants. I was again struggling to figure out where to go. I had drawn the frogephant and while waiting for a movie to start, I came up with this idea.

I thought I should mention where I got this idea as well. This last summer I was searching different programs and came across a show called The New Creatives on BYU TV. I would highly recommend watching it.

The first feature was on Jake Parker, and Illustrator and Animator and the creator of Inktober. He had challenged himself to create 100 robots. I was impressed with the idea and the creative challenge that this presented. I incorporated it into my Visual Arts Seminar class and I challenged myself to do it as well.

I see creativity as a muscle that needs to be exercised on a regular basis in order for it to be strengthened. I was so impressed with what my students did.

#49 of 100 Elephants: Frogephant

At this point I feel like I was falling into a pattern. I was coming up with something original then mixing another animal with the elephant. Still interesting, but not as creative.

#48 of 100 Elephants: Droopy

Sometimes I wish I could figure out where I get ideas. I know we are influenced by everything we see, but I cannot recall where this one came from. In the end it just feels unhappy, miserable, and depressed, but there is an appeal to him as well. Similar to Eeyore we can relate to the melancholy.

#47 of 100 Elephants: The Chickephant

With 3 47 I went back  to the idea of combining other animals with elephants, and thus the Chickephant was born.

#46 of 100 Elephants: An Elephant Robot

This was another breakthrough. I particularly enjoyed the resolution for the trunk and making it look like a vacuum. There are more robots to come.

#45 of 100 Elephants: The Manateephant

Another foray into the mixing and matching of animals. I found this one funny because the manatee is actually closely related to the elephant.

#44 of 100 Elephants: Stretched Thin

After completing this one, I thought was a creative breakthrough. Then a student of mine told me it looked a lot like Salvador Dali's elephants. First, I was impressed that they recognized that. Second, I again realized that we are influenced by all that we see. I was not thinking about Dali's surreal work when I did this.

#43 of 100 Elephants: the Superhero

After the creative spark of the slinkyphant, I went back to more tried and true ideas and created the elephant superhero. This is a theme I have played with before, just a different iteration. I again realized there is a process to creativity. Although, I enjoy this one, it is not one of my more creative creations, But I needed to do this to get to other new ideas.

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.

#42 of 100 Elephants: Slinky

With 42 I hit a mother creative breakthrough with the slinky elephant!

#41 of 100 Elephants: Giraffe

This is continuing with the thought of mixing other animals with elephants.

#40 of 100 Elephants: Snake

 I found this is a process that ebbs and flows. At times you are stuck, or falling back on past themes just to get tot he next level of creative out burst. Here I went back to transforming animals into elephants. After the full 100 were completed, I recognized that this is a necessary step to get to something truly different. It isn't a bad idea, it just isn't as creative as others, but it is a necessary step.

#39 of 100 Elephants: The Elephant Centaur

I will admit this idea has been dancing around my head and in my sketch books for some time.  I could just never get it right. Here I feel as if I finally made a break through.

On another note, the Quimby Gallery had the closing reception for the itty-bitty 2x3.5 inch exhibit last night. It was a wonderful event. The gallery had 802 2x3.5 images on the walls. 100 of them were this elephant series. It is a beautiful sight to see and so exciting for me as an artist and a gallery director to see the participation and the incredible work. I was also able to sell a large number of the original images from this series. This one is still available.

#38 of 100 Elephants: Tea Pot

A common assignment for drawing class is drawing 100 tea pots and cups from different angles This helps with both creativity and practice drawing eclipses. Here is the elephant version.

#37 of 100 Elephants: Something Different

Number 37 found me trying a caricature of an individual. The challenge was how do I get the individual look like an elephant and make the recognizable. In this instance, I selected the president of  Lyndon State College where I teach.

#36 of 100 Elephants: Two Heads

Number 36 became a 2 headed elephant. I am surprised I didn't think of this one sooner.

#35 of 100 Elephants: One Leg

This one was inspired by the Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. In it there was a group of creatures with one leg. They were also invisible. It was a challenge to depict a one-legged elephant that could be seen.

#34 of 100 Elephants: The Cloaked One

After the chess pieces, I tried my hand at drawing a hooded cloak.

#33 of 100 Elephants: The Queen

I not only saved the strongest of the chess pieces for last, I delayed creating her to give me time to figure out how to work a bow tie that was more appropriate for a traditional queen.

#32 of 100 Elephants: The King

I was really enjoying the design of these chess pieces, so I took them to our 3D modeling class at Lyndon State College to see if students could recreate them. This is the first draft of the King. some of the pieces have broken off. I am looking forward to seeing them finished someday.

#31 of 100 Elephants: The Rook

I enjoyed the flattening of the face with the weight of the turret on top of the rook.

#30 of 100 Elephants: Knight

The elephant night chess piece was a bit more challenging.

#29 of 100 Elephants: Bishop

Continuing with the chess theme is the elephant bishop.

#28 of 100 Elephants: Pawn

After the car and the helicopter, I was stuck. I did not know where to go next with the character design. I was with my son at his schools chess tournament and looking at the pieces. This was the inspiration I needed. I started a series of elephant chess pieces.