Mouse Patriot
I drew this little guy months and months ago. Who knows what distracted me from finishing. This afternoon I finally took some time to put a nice shine on his shoes and brush out his coat. And as with everything I hope to find the time to draw more of these mice. As far as children’s books go, I should probably draw these fellows in action.
Here’s direct link to the full illustration in my Fantasy Gallery.
The Fox and The Rabbit
I’ve recently come to the realization that I the overwhelming majority of my children’s book illustrations are simple portraits. As an aspiring storybook illustrator this realization was a bit disturbing as illustration is all about storytelling which requires a setting and, most importantly, character interaction. So I have resolved to rework some of my recent work to this end. Here is the first fruit of my labor. So far, so good. I liked my original illustration of the Fox Thief, but I like my revision so much better. The rabbit pictured here is a part of the expanded scene which if printed would is 18 inches wide and about 7 inches tall.
Here is the Full Scene. Of course can also view related images in my Fantasy Gallery.
Trial by Ordeal
It fascinates me to review my web stats and see how visitors are finding my illustrations. In particular I am fascinated by the number of people who find my site searching for images relating to the trial by ordeal. For those not up on their medieval history the trial by ordeal was a test put to the accused to determine their innocence. In some cases the accused was required to reach into boiling water. If their hand burned they were believed to be guilty. If not, then they were believed to be innocent. However, this may sound more barbaric than it truly was.
I recently read an article that suggested that some of these ordeals were contrived to unmask guilt through trickery. For instance, the guilty might flat out refuse the trial knowing that they would be burned while they innocent would suffer the ordeal in the hopes they could prove their innocence and would discover the water to not be quite as hot as it looked. No doubt similar trickery is used regularly in police interrogations, minus the ordeals of course.
As always, you can view this illustration in my Fantasy Gallery. Most illustrations are in that gallery these days.
Jenn
An unexpected break in my current web design project allowed me to put in some time on my portrait of Jenn and so was able to complete it yesterday. This photo is far better, more accurate than photos I had previously posted.
You can view my portrait of Jenn on my Portraits gallery.
I am especially glad I bit the bullet and revised the face and hand this last month. Previously I was very satisfied with my portrayal of Jenn, but after three years of marriage I found that the girl in my portrait was not the same girl to whom I am married. What I mean to say is that when I took the original photos of Jenn we were not yet dating. The girl in those photos was far more reserved than the Jenn I photograph today. That reservation could be seen both in her expression and posture. And so my original rendering was accurate to the photos but not to Jenn who is now my wife and mother of our children.
Not doubt someone is wondering why I needed three years to complete a portrait. Well, I didn’t. Things got off to a very good start, but then I got married, our son was born, and then our daughter was born. All the while many other things were going on and so the portrait got put in a corner for a time-out. Only recently did I have the time to return to it and complete it.
