September 30, 2005

33: Will It Float?

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
This may well be one of the weakest links to the theme of this week's Illustration Friday, but if the shoe – or in this case, the drawing – fits, then well...post it. And just what is "fits" anyway, in these topsy-turvy modern times?

I recently wrapped up this illustration as a favour to an online friend who has a brilliant idea knocking around inside his skull for a potential children's book. For anonymity's sake, I'll refer to him/her here only as Mister/Miss Ravens McOrioles – as I don't want to let the goose out of the bag before he's/she's even put pen to paper. But because the subject matter was up my alley, I offered to help flesh out a bit of imagery for the story which involves a goose and a wallaby.

Side note: I've never drawn a wallaby in my life, so Mister/Miss Ravens McOrioles, we're on equal footing with that fella!

The goose however, I know and know well. I was given details about the goose character in McOrioles' story idea. Goose X (not his real name) was to be an eccentric fellow, well-dressed, prone to bouts of daffiness, imagination and ideas that sometimes sink and sometimes float (hence the background scheme and loose relation to Illustration Friday's theme). I decided to give him an elderly, forgetful-professor vibe to boot; kind of a fuddy-duddy.

I loosely sketched a whole manner of geese that for one reason or another didn't turn out. This fella was eventually done up in pencil last weekend, detailed in pen and coloured in Photoshop. Click here for a closer look. Do it.

15 comments:

Matt said...

Pretty groovy gander Doc.

Though that is an awfully big pencil behind his ear.

Anonymous said...

Really like this! On closer inspection (which is a MUST) saw the quality of your line drawing which is really well done. I also like your choice of background. Is there an ear on the other side of his head? :)

elegraph said...

this is awesome!

not a stretch - i mean, since the pencil miraculously "floats" on the other side of his head :-)

RAY DILLON said...

Hey, this has a really classic feel to it. The texture does a lot for it. Taking notes. ;o)

Great job!!

Courtney Pippin-Mathur said...

definitely a classic feel with the intricate line work and details. the pencil is quite funny, it's tucked into some feathers, right? ;) my favorite part is the contrast between the goose and the background with its blotches and graphic quality.

Anonymous said...

this is definitely a character that would appeal to children, and the colour theme is great, doesn't overwhelm the rest of the image. would love to see more! perhaps you and the authour can eventually show us a sample page?
cheers,
kerry

Anonymous said...

what did she say?????????

The now infamous,

Ravens McOrioles

Jeope said...

She? She who?

I ain't sayin' nuthin'.

Leontine said...

This little guy is really endearing! I would like to read a book about him. I also like the sort of faux-woodcut look you've got going. Well done!

Unknown said...

The textures and the colors are great. I like this a lot.

Anonymous said...

This looks great. The pen lines looks very good, and I like the textures.
wynlen

Anonymous said...

Nice. I dig the textures in the background. The pencil seems a bit off though. Like the front is coming from a lower angle than the back.

devon spec said...

hi!!!

it's not creepy at all. :)

oh! i see you've put keith's generosity to work in your pieces as well. i dunno what i'd do with out them!!

Ian T. said...

I appreciate a good bit of anthro character design and your Canada goose character is tops! You've got the balance of animal/humanised features just right and he looks like he's thinking stuff.

The technique looks really great too. I hope this works out for you - I know I've done a lot of sample children's book illos along the way for aspiring authors, many of whom had some terrific ideas.

Is he walking on water?

Anonymous said...

Great illustration. I really like this one a lot. Your others are quite tasty too. What can I say that hasn't already been said?