Illustration Friday - Fierce

Meet the Minotaur
A fierce monster in Greek mythology, half bull, half man.
Minos of Crete got a snow-white bull from Poseidon for a sacrificial ceremony. He liked it so much kept it instead and tried to pull a fast one on the God (what not to do) and swapped it for a bull painted white.
Duh, the god punished him! Poseidon made Minos' wife, Pasiphaë, fall in love with the bull... And the Minotaur was born.
To cover up these of indiscretions Minos locked up the Minotaur in a Labyrinth built by the legendary Greek craftsman, Daedalus. After defeating Athens in war, Minos figured it would be a good idea to stick it to them once more by forcing the Athens to send fourteen of their young people as tribute, 7 men & 7 women to be devoured by the Minotaur.
Ariadne, the king's daughter, thought this was just too much and, with a plan to have the Minotaur killed, conspired with Theseus on a way to beat the maze with a ball of thread.
Medium: ink
Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Forgotten

I let the Illustration Friday slide for a few weeks so here's a quick catch up series inspired by Garryth the cat.
Forgotten: No wet food this morning. Sigh. The big one must have forgottten about me this morning.

Punchline: A line of thirst quenching, punch beverages designed for the sofisticated feline taste pallet: Chicken Broth, Seafood Slurpie, Tuna Juice and Beefy Beer.

Baby: My fury, four-legged baby meets me at the door after a long, hard day at the office. And I feel happy. "Did you bring Meat?"

Worry: "Don't worry, be happy!" The sunbeam that creeps across the livingroom carpet in the middle of the afternoon is the happiest place in the house.
Medium: ink and digital colour.
Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Baby

Koala Bear Hugs
Awe! baby animals are so sweet!
This was an experiment where I intended to really emphasize and push the colour. But, as it turns out, there is more truth in exaggeration than you'd think. My orange, purple and blue koalas still look fairly realistic.
Of all the silly things... the simple foliage took as long as the bears themselves.
Medium: coloured pencil
Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Seeds

"Seeds of Inspiration" - A Self-Promotion Piece
Medium: graphite pencil & digital colour
I finally got it finished! This was actually the topic of the week from 3 weeks ago.
I drew a package of flower seeds with a black rhino in full bloom and a baby rhino just beginning to bud.
I really wanted to get this one done. I think it's a terrific idea for a self promotion piece. I'm sure it wold be easy enough to get this printed and turned into actual seed envelopes. I wonder what kind of seeds an art director would appreciate getting in the mail. It could be a tactile, visual, olfactory, auditory... sensual experience.

Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Wide

"mmm... You Smell Nice!"
Medium: graphite and digital colour.
You see that funky texture on the rhino hide and back ground? I spent a few hours one afternoon running around photographing textures. You see them used all over in graphic design. The "tiles" that come with photoshop are frequently too obvious that they are repeating patterns so I wanted to create my own. I now have a little unique library of stone, wood, lichens, rust, chipping paint... that I can go to any time. Digital cameras rock!
The name "white rhino" is actually a miss-nomenclature. Rhinos are gray.
The Afrikaans word "weit", meaning “wide” is a reference to the shape of its mouth. The broad flat upper lip is ideal for pulling up mouthfuls of low-growing grass. This African herbavor is an endangered species.
Black rhinos are also gray but they have pointy lips designed for picking leaves out of bushes.


Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Pet Peeve

"Rubber Cheques - Bounced Cheques"
Medium: ball point pen & digital colour
I did the work, I worked hard. My work is excellent. As if free-lancing isn't hard enough! Bad cheques suck.
You know it's time to fire your client when... Starting to get a little tired of crossing my fingers and hoping that all will be fine come the end of the month.
As you may imagine I'm a little peeved about this.
Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Multiple

She's Got Betty Davis Eyes
Medium: Pencil & Digital
I had this great idea for a company name / logo illustration project... Ghost Lemur Studios. Awesome name! Rolls right off the tongue.
Turns out there isn't a species called ghost lemur. Lemur is latin for ghost. Appearently these are sneaky little guys and you don't know they're there until you come nose to nose with one.
The word of the week is "Multiple": There are "multiple" pencil strokes in this illustration. No -Not really! I did "multiple" studies of lemurs so that I could get to know their form better. Later I intend to design some derivative shapes based on what I've learned here.

Illustration Friday - Legend

This one cracks me up - "Self Portait before 7:00 a.m."
The Legend of Big Foot
Medium: acrylic paint
A figure in North American folklore alleged to inhabit remote forests of United States and Canadian province of British Columbia. Described as a large, hairy bipedal hominoid, and many believe that this animal, or its close relatives, may be found around the world under different regional names, such as the Yeti of Tibet and Nepal, the Yeren of mainland China, and the Yowie of Australia.

The Legend of the Loch Ness Monster
Medium: acrylic paint
Affectionately referred to by the diminutive "Nessie", this aquatic monster is claimed to inhabit Scotland's Loch Ness, the most voluminous freshwater lake in the United Kingdom. She has a similar North American cousin, the Ogopogo, who lives in Okanogan lake of British Columbia.

Below: Big Foot & Nessie Trading Cards
Medium: acrylic & ink
For this set I was thinking along the lines of collector cards, like sport legends and such. They started out as loose gestural paint brush stokes. Then the drawings were sketched over top and white paint was used for punchy highlights.

Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd

Illustration Friday - Soar

Medium: Graphite & Digital
Concept: Bird's eye view of a Bird

PHOENIX
The bird was rendered with graphite without any refence material. In exploring the brain's interpretation of the real world, without any outside influence other than memories, I get to create something that's never existed before.
"Phoenix" is a linear burn over a satellite image of a city with a river winding through it. I could have never planned colours like this. It has a "Native American" feeling to it. Gotta love PhotoShop!


BLUE CHINA
This one has a completely different feeling. Another linear burn over a solid colour back ground, this one would make interesting stationary. I could see it as a greeting card or the cover of a journal.

$1.00 Canadian Postage


CITYSCAPE
Going back to my original concept of seeing an aerial view of the landscape below. It's very easy to get carried away with all the possibilities of PhotoShop. This one also showcases the original graphite drawing.
The juxtaposition of fantasy drawing and real photography. Makes it feel like another world.
Original Art © RhinoInk Illustrations Ltd


So glad I found this website. I really needed to be reminded that illustration is all about play time.