December 22, 2008

170: Voicing On Nibbles

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Illustration Friday's pre-Christmas theme is voices. And for a few short years during my childhood, the voice of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve must have sounded an awful lot like the nocturnal squeaks of my pet gerbil.


My memory is hazy when it comes to so many key childhood moments. I dislike myself about that. One notable – and timely – example is the circumstances surrounding the suspension of my belief in Santa Claus. I don't remember the secret being spoiled in the schoolyard, by TV or my bigger siblings. But I was usually one to quickly deduce things – even minutiae like how similar Santa's handwriting was to my mom's. But pre-dating this discovery, my brother and I owned a pair of gerbils – Friend (his) and Nibbles (mine, making for an awesome what's-your-pornstar-name: Nibbles Kingswood). And as those formative Christmases rolled by, fewer presents arrived in my stocking or under the tree from Santa – and more began arriving from Nibbles. Then following Friend's and Nibbles' brief gerbilian lifespans, Christmas gifts then became the exclusive responsibility of my family.

And that was pretty much that. A nice, smooth transition, no questions asked.

So in honour of my childhood proxy Santa – Nibbles the gerbil – I sat down and attempted my first real attempt at sketching her, something I never did as a kid when Nibbles was alive and chewing happily through our discarded toilet paper rolls.

You can click here to see a closer look at the pen detail.

10 comments:

Afua Richardson said...

ha- that's a pretty cool anecdote . great Gerbil!

aeneadellaluna said...

hihihi what a cute little hamster :) Happy Holidays *

A M Persand said...

beautiful rendering!

Doug said...

nice sketch! I was in a store yesterday and saw a toy I had never seen before. It was a toy gerbil in a wheel running and making the wheel spin. Something kind of funny yet sad about that...

trowbridge chronicles said...

I like your crosshatch style. Very nice work.

joseph's art and stuff said...

excellent sketch, merry christmas

Anonymous said...

Awww - this is adorable! I enjoyed your story and as always when I visit - I delight in your art! Have a very happy holiday:)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful line work and story!

Sarall said...

Thanks for include a link to a bigger image to can appreciate better the ink work!

By the way, did you realize that its nose looks like Oscar the Grouch´s face??

Dana S. Whitney said...

Artistic types recognize graphic similarities. My Santa's writing usually looked like Dad's. Mom always wrote the cards from Mom & Dad. Wonder what Freud would say?!