Mom

Happy Mother's Day

pencil and watercolour

Train

Last weekend I read, The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick DeWitt, heard Mac Barnett read aloud, The Three Robbers, by Tomi Ungerer, and drew shadows in a class taught by Sophie Blackall.  So the answer to this week's challenge in Illustration Friday for Train is a combination of those influences, and a bit of True Grit too (shadow is of Rooster).
Graphite, ink, and newspaper transfer.

original sketch and image of Rooster

Urban & Wild

Urban

Last week, the topic for Illustration Friday was "Urban."  An image of mice below the subway was my solution.  I worked about half way through the drawing before the dreaded thing happened -- knocked over my entire ink pot.  Hours of masking and inking were gone in a single nervous twitch.  Above is attempt number two.  It pairs nicely with the "Wild" mice, originally illustrated in February.

Wild

Let's call the pair...

City Mouse and Country Mouse

Both images are ink, graphite, and pastel on Rising Stonehenge.

This is "Re-Sendakify"

This is in response to Elizabeth Bird's call for submissions to "Re-Sendakify Sendak!"  Here, we have Miroslav Sasek (1916-1980), famous for his "This is" series of picture books.  Sasek's books have a way of drawing readers in with his cheerful tone of someone experiencing a place with wonder and amusement.  Just imagine how he would take us on a tour of Maurice Sendak's, Where the Wild Things Are.  It might go something like this:

So here we are.
There are many wild things living here - dozens with yellow eyes, gnashing teeth, terrible claws - and there is a king of the wild things.  This one is called Max.

The cover is loosely based on, This is Paris.  Below are works in progress, as well as images that inspired the drawing above, which is pen and gouache on bristol.

WiP - inking in text over blueline

WiP - after mask removed

Surrounded by reference materials and cup 'o java!

This is Paris, p.12

This is Paris, p.50

Talent - The Accordionist

He stood shaking and shaken in the doorway.  "Do you still play the accordion?"  Of course, the question was really, "Will you still help me?"
-The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, 2005

I read this book more than two months ago and still think about it.

Pen and ink.

Snug

When it is cold and dark outside, nothing beats being warm and cozy inside.

Exploring different effects created by masking.  The shape of burrow was sketched in, then the ground masked before working in with graphite and ink.  Splatter, splatter for the snow while the mask was still on, but careful not to SPLAT a blob of white instead.  Trees were created with a mask and smudged pastel.
Mostly ink and graphite on paper.

Dormouse hibernating - image for BBC by  George McCarthy. 

Wheel, Wings, Myth, Ocean

"True, by now he had his sea legs, but he could also see things that his mates could not."

Sometimes I have trouble letting go of an idea.  Four weeks ago, Illustration Friday posted the topic "Ocean" and I had this idea of a fisherman with the tentacles of an octopus.  Missed that deadline.  The next topic was "Myth" so I thought that the original idea could still work.  Missed that deadline.  Week three, the topic was "Wings" and I am thinking this is going to be one strange picture if I hang on.  Missed that deadline too.  This week's topic is "Wheel."  I did not miss the deadline.  It is a strange picture.
Pen, ink, and watercolour.

Inspiration for the image include fantastical images from the music video for the Modest Mouse song, Dashboard, and a fiisherman in the painting by Michael Peter Ancher, Vil han klare pynten, 1879.