A snake called Carl

©2011 Russ Cox | Smiling Otis Studio

Sorry for the late posting but it has been a busy week and a half. After the review last week, I worked late nights just to block out time to work on the children's book story on Friday. I got a bulk of it down on paper but now it is time to really hone and craft the story which is my goal this Friday. Once I get it to my liking, I will let a few friends read over it, tweak it, and then send it to Marietta at Nancy Gallt Literary for her opinion. After that, who knows what the next step will be.

After doing the dancing gator a few weeks ago, I really wanted to get back into Painter. To take a break from writing, I decided to spend the past weekend learning more about the software. An idea of a large snake named Carl who escaped with his owner telling him to get back into his cage just popped into my head so I went with it. Marietta also wanted me to "just do" and not over think while I experiment. I quickly sketched a very rough drawing and scanned it into the computer. My goal was to keep the drawing loose and lively while maintaining a bit of my style but also exploring a more 50's and 60's retro look which I am very fond of. This was the end results. I could have spent some additional time tweaking it but I did not want to overwork it and let it loose its spontaneity. I would have done a few things differently but for the most part, I am happy with the final. The colors are probably my favorite part of the whole illustration. The irony is that I had a perspective client email me asking if I had any samples with a lizard like character and a car so I sent him this piece and the dancing gator with a couple of other samples. We shall see what he has to say which will be a good litmus if I am heading in the right direction with this style. I am already sketching out the next one so stay tuned.

That is about it for this week.

"There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books." ~ Charlie Chaplin