Chronicles of Narnia

These sketches are from The Chronicles of Narnia "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." The top composition sketch is from the attack of the Sea Serpent. The monster wraps itself around the ship in an attempt to break it in two. The crew rushes to push it's wet body over the side before it draws the knot tight. Caspian orders the decorative tail of the vessel cut off so the monster will lose it's grip. (still a lot of problems with the comp but this is a start)

The second drawing is an idea sketch for the ship based on the book's description.


And this menacing lady is The Green Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia "The Silver Chair." She seems a bit older than I intended (her appearance is supposed to be completely deceptive so I wanted her a little younger) and I'm afraid I like the dress sketches above better than the one I gave her. (Sheesh!)

Here she prepares to throw magic powder onto the fire in order to enchant prince Rilian and his companions. It is a small part of a larger illustration. I hope to post a more complete drawing soon.

Little Visitor

This small bunny has made his residence in my front yard. The amazing thing about him is that he's not afraid of humans but disappears when dogs and cats come into the yard. He's very similar to a bunny that I watched grow into "rabbithood" about a year ago, so I guess this might start to be a regular thing.

I've also seen a large speckled rabbit come from across the street and chase the bunny. The little one doesn't seem to mind but runs in circles and jumps straight into the air. Perhaps it is momma rabbit trying to instill a little fear in her bunny, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Morning Music Lesson

I've been away from the blogs for a bit and I'm afraid I might be away for a little bit more. My to do list grows while I look at it. I'll try and post as often as I can.

This image was an idea I had about a week ago, and I really wanted to get it down on paper. A little pixie giving an unwanted music lesson to some baby birds. There are a few changes I might make to it before it goes into the portfolio, but this is it so far. It's almost completely watercolor with some digital color and blurring adjustments.

Weekend Drawings

I've been trying to stay loose lately, so this weekend I set down the paintbrush and picked up the pencil. These are a few drawings that I came up with.

The image up top is a cover idea I just made up. I've read that in an illustrator's portfolio, it's good to have mock covers... but I think that might only apply to recognizable books. (Oops!) I'm liking the idea of making digital collages so I worked that into the image a bit. Anyway, my youngest brother is having a birthday today so I had the idea from that. He's a crazy kid! and we love him... The image below that is just a sketch (We were all up Friday night trying to change the battery on a beeping smoke alarm - 12:30 am! - so you see the bathrobe) I have some other sketches on that event I might post soon

And now to the final sketch... I've always loved Indiana Jones. I remember playing out his adventures on the monkey bars in my back yard. (Dang near killed myself!) I drew him from the back of a cereal box and noticed he's getting just a tiny bit older. No offense Indy

And Drew Struzan has a great poster out for the new movie. You can see it at the Illustration Friday link here. I haven't found any other image of it yet and was delighted to find this!

Have a nice week everyone. And thank you so much for the comments you've been posting! You've been wonderful!

A Fine Day For Grilling

Here are some characters I've been having fun with for the past few months. This is the first color version of them. I'm not exactly sure where they'll end up. Right now I'm writing a short story for my portfolio.

I've also been experimenting with textures. I had an art professor that loved texture in painting and I think he left an impression on me. This is a photo of concrete I overlaid in Photoshop to help add depth to the cutout feel of the characters.

The Little Mermaid

This image was painted in watercolor, with some line work added in colored pencil. I superimposed some of my original sketch for additional texture in the painting.

The Little Mermaid Sketch 1

This is the first image for a group of illustrations pertaining to "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen. The story is packed with emotion and being a children's classic, drew my attention.

In this image the Little Mermaid is preparing to swim to the surface, having looked at her home for the last time. She has just received a potion from the Sea Witch that will change her into a human, and the cost for that potion was her voice.