Studio Tuesday Blog

A new illustration in my dinosaur series is finished! A Diplodocus, a Sauropod from the Jurassic period, surrounded by pines and conifers. I'm pushing my use of color a bit in this series and I'm liking the mix of greens with the soft dusky purple sky in this piece - a color combination I haven't used often.Although these illustrations are very stylized and simple, I am doing a bit of research beforehand on their anatomy and behavior. I think this helps with drawing something that isn't generic. I'm also having fun imagining and drawing the Prehistoric landscapes for these dinosaurs to live in. Lots of ferns and conifers! Above, an example of a framed 8x10" print, available in other sizes as well!You can find them in the shop here:Cute Sauropods Art Print

New Otter Art Print My newest illustration is of a swimming River Otter, an animal I especially love. The Weasel family, which includes otters, have been a favorite of mine since learning about them in elementary school.This was made from a doodle i drew last October. The illustration features a Otter floating in a river and includes an underwater dimension, a stone lined river bank, icicles, and falling snow. Sometimes these drawings seem to take a lot of work, studying the animals and figuring out how to convey them in simple lines and shapes. Sometimes it takes multiple sketches, altering and redoing drawings (this Pine Marten comes to mind) and sometimes, like this otter, they come together easily in one quick go.I have prints up in the shop, which you can find here: River Otter Art Print   Favorite Otter Art While I'm on the subject I thought I'd talk about some of the otter art I enjoy. Below are a few of my favorites. Included are different otter species, and a range of styles from different artists. Charley Harper's "Otterly Delicious" features a sea otter painted in his distinctive geometric, graphic style. The otter is floating on it's back, an arm wrapped around a piece of kelp, and chewing on a sand dollar. On it's belly are some other favorite sea otter foods: an orange star fish and sea urchin. This piece is pretty typical of his work, which illustrated wild animals and their behavior, often in interesting and/or humorous ways.Like many others, I'm quite fond of the unique way he simplified animals and the natural world, especially the sea urchin in this piece. I think this is such a clever way of depicting a difficult subject. The pattern is interesting, fun, and immediately recognizable.    Above, Tom Frost's otter stamp screen print. Part of his series of birds and animals of the British Isles, in stamp form! A fun use of geometric pattern and shapes. This is the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra, which swims in both fresh and salt water and is found throughout Europe and Asia. The otter mug, shown on the right, is available here. "Along the Water's Edge" by Rebecca Green   Gouache and Colored PencilRebecca Green's whimsical narrative paintings often feature animals and interesting girl characters. Along the Water's Edge is an imaginative scene that features one such character, along with swimming river otters, and an egret. I love the soft muted colors in her work. I'm also a sucker for interesting texture and keep coming back to stare at the rich layers, marks, and brushstrokes in her paintings. You can find more of her art here: myblankpaper.com The gestural ink drawing of the otter above is by Sophie Neville. This and her other sketches are drawn from observation of otters she and her family raises. Her drawings capture the otters in their distinctive poses and movements. Its fairly evident from these drawings she's spent a good deal of time observing them and learning about their anatomy. She has some interesting notes on drawing such a tricky subject on her blog, and I would recommend checking it out. You can find the article here."Drawing otters is tricky, firstly because they don't stay still for a moment and secondly because our tame otters are so affectionate and inquisitive that they continually want to see what you are doing. The paw prints on the sketch above are not made with paint but with mud from a wet creature who would have made the paper all soggy, given half a chance"Above, a little excerpt from Sophie's impressions of drawing otters and the muddy sketch she refers to. You can read more about the otters she raises here (one of her otters painted and had an exhibition!).

This is the third animal illustration I did for the upcoming holiday season this year. A Pine Marten in a snowy evergreen forest. Sometimes illustrations come together easily and seem to look great without a lot of effort. This was not one of those. It was a tough one to get right, with lots of sketching, revisions, color testing, and three attempts at the illustration. But... I'm finally happy with this end result of one of my favorite animals. I've had a soft spot for weasels and their kin, since writing a report on them in second grade (Pine Martens are a member of this family). Eventually I will probably end up illustrating all of them. So far I also have a Sea Otter, and a White Weasel. 2016 UPDATE: Now have a Mink and a River Otter as well.Cards are now available - as a single card or sets of 10. In the shop here: Pine Marten Holiday CardsI also have prints available in the shop here:Pine Marten Art Print

A new illustration for this year's holiday season. A Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus, meaning Sea Bear) swimming in an Arctic Sea with icebergs and falling snow. Drawn with ink and watercolors.I love thinking up and drawing these little Winter scenes for my cards every year. This was a fun one, something little more nautical and remote than the typical Christmas card. Holiday Cards now in the shop! Nice, sturdy card stock, and available as a single card or boxed sets of 10 cards. Link here: Polar Bear Cards  

Finally finished up a whale shark illustration, one that I've had in my mind for a while now. In Madagascar whale sharks are named Marokintana, which translates to "many stars". This name was the inspiration for this painting. A star covered ocean giant swimming under a star filled sky.I spent a little more time on the stars in this piece since they were a focus. I used masking fluid to keep the stars white and painted in a little band of the Milky Way (painted in watercolor). Above, a 13x19" Print of the illustration. You can find this and other sizes in my shop with the link below!Whale Shark Art Print

A new illustrated alphabet! This one is Arctic themed and features lot of my favorite animals, including a weasel, snowy owl, arctic fox, snowshoe hare, polar bear, and a few different whales. Prints available in the shop!Arctic Alphabet Print