Tag Archives: pen and ink

Giraffe with Copic Markers, Steampunk on Safari

Steampunk Giraffe Original Art

This is Sid. Although I do consider him the latest in my steampunk beast portrait series – it wasn’t actually a “series” until I typed that just now- he is not currently displaying any of the Victorian fashion elements the other beasts have had. Partly because sticking a scarf right under a giraffe’s chin seems silly. And once again the creature insisted on being so close to the camera I had no room for even a little hat. Particularly with those pesky ossicones (giraffe’s horns, made of cartilage – thank you Wikipedia).  In fact, he does have a hat.  A sleek, black top hat style thing with brass studs and a microscope device of some sort. But it keeps blowing off. It’s at quite an altitude when he wears it, after all.

At 9″ x 12″ he is slightly bigger than the others, and also slightly too big for my scanner, which only does 8.5″ x 11″. Here are some progress photos, from sketch to completion.  I am a big fan of blog posts with progression shots (if you hadn’t noticed).

Steampunk Giraffe Sketch

Steampunk Giraffe Ink

Steampunk Giraffe Color 0

Steampunk Giraffe Color 1

Steampunk Giraffe Color 2

Steampunk Giraffe Original Art

Finished.  I think.

Thanks for looking!

 

The Green Llama – A Tale of Photographic Inspiration

The photo that inspired a beast this weekend: Alpaca Eating from deviantART

Perhaps you remember this photo as one from my post Big Are the Noses. Which is slightly ridiculous because only like three people read that. (Incidentally, is that bad blogging form?  To continually remind the [nonexistent] audience that they are part of a practically nonexistent audience?  Would someone kindly forward a pdf copy of the manual?)

Anyway, I ordered a boatload of deviantART photos with close-ups of mostly farmyard-type-animal noses (you can purchase the fellow above here!), and I started using them as a guide to some brightly-colored, not-quite-farmyard-anymore beasts. Like the following, who appeared this weekend, and was modeled on the above photo:

Green and Blue Alpaca Original Ink Art

Strange but colorful alpaca beast. Possibly a llama. And less likely but still feasible – a camel. He wouldn’t tell me. I asked several times. Once I brought a sugar cube and once a lovely, fresh carrot. He took both very politely but still refused to speak.

Then it occurred to me! Maybe he doesn’t speak English. I have both a Dutch and a Portuguese translator on the way in. If that doesn’t work, one of my neighbors speaks a little Korean and a little Japanese. (For sale in my shop.)  :o)

He looks totally emo*, right?  It wasn’t intentional. I think mainly it’s the hair. And the eyes are a bit.. human. As soon as we overcome this language barrier, I will ask him about his ancestry.

8″ x 10″ drawing using Copic pens, Copic markers and Prismacolor markers, on a heavy board with Bristol finish.  Took about 5 hours.  Maybe less. Hmm, I really don’t know!  I will have to time one.

Anyway, the eyes could be improved and the ears aren’t quite screwed on correctly, but mostly I like him.  I need to experiment more with shapes that are not swirls.  Also, need to consider doing a whole farmyard-beast body one of these days.

Thanks for stopping in. ;)

 

*Emo – “Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter.” (Thank you,  Urban Dictionary.)