No Ceiling

"There's no ceiling! It just goes on forever!" An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 23. See the full page here.

Furry Friday: Heroes of the Tall Grass

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Heroes of the Tall Grass by Kelly Hamilton. I was so happy to when Kelly agreed to participate on the book, because she has long been an inspiration for my own work. Her characters are always so wonderfully expressive, and her style has the perfect blend of cartoony realism that I love.

For this illustration, I asked her to depict a ragtag group of adventurers out on the savanna, embarking on a journey. I gave her the hyena's character design to start with and she designed from scratch the meerkat and agama lizard to be his companions. You can really get a sense of their personalities from the body language and facial expressions.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"My process starts with research, usually by finding photos online to inspire the characters, environments, and costumes in the image. Next, I sketch out a series of tiny thumbnail drawings, to plot out the basic composition and poses. That's followed by a larger, more refined sketch where I try to solve any remaining composition problems. I also like to add shading at this step to plan out the values in black and white. Inks and flat colors are done digitally in SAI Paint Tools, with final touches and textures created in Photoshop. Along the way I like to check my drawing by mirroring the sketch, and check values by converting the image to black and white. When the basics are solid, the final steps of inking and coloring are a breeze." - Kelly

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.
Signed copies are available through my online shop!

Defiant Daughter

Stella leaves the den. An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 22. See the full page here.

Arctic Animal Comic Competition Results!

I’m pleased to announce the winners for the 2012 ‘My Arctic Animal’ comic competition! I was amazed and moved by the creativity, passion and variety of the entries I received. They were incredibly varied, from dramatic, to funny, to heart-wrenching, utilizing every art medium from crayons to digital paint. In fact, there were so many fun and creative entries to choose from, it was difficult to narrow it down to just one for each age group (8 and under, 9 to 13, 14 to 18).

The overall winning entry “Zaenok the Collared Lemming” by Zefanya N Putri, age 16, USA.

What I love about Zefanya’s comic is her clever use of layout to take us on a guided tour of the Arctic through the eyes of the collared lemming, Zaenok. From sword-fighting narwhals to leopard seals used as platforms, the sequence of events packed into this single page makes it a joy to read. Congratulations Zefanya!

Click here to view the rest of the winning entries!

New Book – Draw More Furries!

Arriving in bookstores November 23rd! The follow-up book to Draw Furries, Draw More Furries is packed with more fantastic furries and scalies to draw!

 

This book shows readers how to create anthropomorphic characters (animals with human-like characteristics) that effectively convey various personalities, combining elements of people with those of furry (or feathered or scaled) animals, reptiles and mythical creatures.

Here’s a few sample spreads:

Signed copies of the book are available through my online shop! Go here to order your copy.

Light Outside

Illuminated panels from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 20 and 21. Read the comic here.

Mother's Love

Illuminated panels from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 19. See the full page here.