Still exploring treatments for the story characters. This illustration uses the elephant cut outs and charcoal line overlay (with modifications) from the earlier post. With these cut outs as a guide I used watercolour on some really nice cotton rag paper I'd forgotten that I had. Expensive paper for an off the cuff experiment but I've had the paper for ages, too scared to waste it before now (the reason I'll never feel at ease using moleskins as sketch books...). It really is an interesting paper to paint on as the coarse open grain bleeds the paint in unexpected ways while the heavy weight allows for fairly controlled washes on unstretched sheets. After compositing the various elements in photoshop I chopped up the body further to give me more points of articulation for posing in the illustration. I'm really enjoying the balance (no pun intended) of dynamism against quirkiness which this unplanned pose approach gives.
It definitely looks poised!! you have great style here ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat illustration! Made me laugh out loud!
ReplyDeletehaha. I love the cutout paint thing that you did for the elephant. damn cute!
ReplyDeleteit looks really fab, the texture of the paper is sooo perfect for your phants skin!
ReplyDeleteso great expression in the elephant eye. awesome job!!!
ReplyDeleteAh ha ha. Really cute. I like the way you did the skin too.
ReplyDeleteYou're so good at drawing elephants. It seems to me that's what had attracted me to your blog in the first place. Nice texture.
ReplyDeletebuenísima!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat illo! Love the textures and darling elephant.
ReplyDeleteWow, Matt - that's wonderful. I love the puppetry aspect of this.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Matt, what a fantastic style and clever idea for this subject! I look forward to seeing more of your work:)
ReplyDeletelove the contrast between the very fine umbrella and the elephants skin.
ReplyDeleteI love the textures and definitely the facial expression. Very fun illustration.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to what you said about using moleskins as sketchbooks! :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful work! I love the muted palette and the elephant's expression.
Wow, terrific illo!
ReplyDeleteIt´s AMAZING (in capital letters :-)). All in this illo is fantastic, the composition, the colors, the textures of the elephant....I have no words to describe it.
:-)
Just amazing. The idea, the colors, and the awesome work on the cut out and overall skill. Bravo.
ReplyDeletelove it! one of my favourites this week..
ReplyDeletehi Matt, i love your textures again! this elephant seems really universal :) so fine colors on his skin, delightful!
ReplyDelete(btw: have you seen the painting elephants on the web? i would rather see elephants on paintings than painting elephants i think...except they enjoy drawing.)
and yes, i know and love Calvin & Hobbes - or as we call them in Hungary: Huba & Kázmér :)
ReplyDeleteWow. Super Illustration!
ReplyDeletehahaha.... i love it, its sooooooo funy.. :D
ReplyDeleteTexture and lines work great, espically for an elephant. this look is a good 'un
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated with the illustration. it reminds me a Circus I visited when I was in Beijing and where the elephants were able to do whatever stuff humans do. An spectacle out of world.
ReplyDeleteI like your website. Thank you for great information. I will come back to your website again.
ReplyDeletebest regards