Emmet Otter’s Other Christmas

Most of you have either seen Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas or read the original children’s book by Russel and Lillian Hoban. It’s a Christmas classic about a mother and son trying to celebrate Christmas, and make ends meet on the banks of the Frogtown Hollow River. But for our holiday video this year, Michelle and I rowed down a different branch of that river.

This year, we’re breathing life into the long lost, controversial, alternate ending to Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas. What? You’ve never heard of this so-called alternate ending? Well, neither had I until I found some old papers hiding in a dusty box I got at an estate sale years ago.

Is it legit? Who knows? Maybe it’s just some stuff I typed up and dunked in coffee so it would look vintage. But Michelle and I ran with it regardless. And we used illustrations, needle felted sculptures, and dioramas to bring this alternate ending off the page and capture it on video.

I created the illustrations digitally because deadlines are tight, and digital mistakes are easier and quicker to fix. But I had the easy part. Michelle had to needle felt not one, not two, but three characters from the story. We each put our own spin on the characters, and I’m pretty happy with both the 2D and 3D versions.

This diorama was a challenge too. Another time-consuming cog in this chaotic machine. But to tell a story this epic, we had to go big. And that means going small, and filling this miniature set with miniature props.

So, whether or not this alternate ending is real…it’s the ending we need. And it rights the injustice that occurred at the Frogtown Hollow Talent Competition all those years ago when the Mayor let those goons from Riverbottom into the contest at the last minute. And it reminds us all of maybe the most important lesson you can learn at the holidays: Hit them before they hit you.

Have a wonderful holiday season, stay safe, and have fun. Here’s the video:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Toned Paper Drawing

I haven’t attempted a toned paper drawing since it was forced upon me in tenth grade. The teacher was trying to teach us about the three values (dark, midtone, light) but I used it as an excuse to goof off and phone in the assignment. I regret nothing.

But I did think it was about time I revisited the toned paper. So I picked up a pad of Strathmore tan toned paper, grabbed some soft lead pencils and a white charcoal pencil and tried to figure out what my high school art teacher had been patiently trying to convey to me all those years ago.

For my subject matter, I picked characters from one of my favorite horror books, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (the fact that I just bought a Mr Hyde action figure might have also figured into my decision). And I talked to my friend  RunRedRun about Jekyll and Hyde, toned paper drawing, and my awful tenth grade art.

All in all, for only my second time with this medium, it didn’t turn out too bad. Here’s the video. No rest for the wicked.

How I Illustrated My Holiday Card This Year

And we’re back from break! I sent out New Year’s cards this year. Not many. Just enough to make sure all the people who sent me Christmas cards didn’t think I was a complete jerk.

But while I was making the card, I also took the opportunity to record my process and talk about it with my friend, RunRedRun. I might not be a complete jerk, but I’m also not gonna pass up the opportunity to generate some fresh content for my YouTube channel.

So we uploaded a video where I discussed not only my illustration process for this cute little hamster, but also name-dropped the many various tools and materials I used to create the card — from the sketch stage right on up to me dropping it in the mailbox.

Enjoy the video. And Happy New Year!

Inking Br’er Fox (ink wash)

Continuing with villains this week, I inked Br’er Fox, the villain of all those Br’er Rabbit stories. And since this illustration was based on the Disney version of the character, RunRedRun and I do a lot of gabbing about the Splash Mountain ride at the Disney parks.

Oh, and if you stick around long enough, I do a quick, simple inking of another crafty critter from Chickapin Hill. The video is embedded down below. Stay safe! -v

Easter Bunny with Watercolor Pencils

I suppose most of us will be sheltering in place this Sunday, and that means things will be a little different for folks that celebrate Easter. Probably won’t be much different for me because locking myself in my studio like a hermit is my jam. However, for anyone who was hoping to see Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail, here’s a six-minute video of me drawing an Easter Bunny with watercolor pencils. Have a safe weekend.

Busway. A Pittsburgh City Paper Cover.

I had a lot of fun with this one. The City Paper’s editor, Lisa, wanted an illustration for a cover story on Pittsburgh’s Busways. And she wanted it to evoke that kidlit feel of something like a Richard Scarry book (with anthropomorphized animals going about their daily business).

I also thought about those hidden picture puzzles in Highlights while I was setting up the composition. Just a lot of little things, all going on at once. I used Clip Studio Paint for this illustration. Here’s my process.

Pencils

This was all sketched loosely in Clip Studio using the Blue Real Pencil. I just wanted to get something down quick to get approval from Lisa. Once she and the writer hammered out a few details, I was given the go-ahead.

Inks

Inked in Clip Studio, with various inking tools. The most important tool at this stage were the Curve Rulers. I used those to ink all of those long, sweeping, curved lines (on the guardrail, sidewalks, roads, etc) and to help keep the lines of the buses and windows smooth.

Colors

I used a couple layers in Clip Studio to keep the flat colors and the highlights/shadows separate. I do this mostly so if I change my mind about one or the other, I can make tiny changes without having to redo the whole thing.

Details

The tortoise here is being trailed by a hare (running up the stairs) that just can’t catch him. As usual, the tortoise wins this race.

March just wrapped up, so I had lions and lambs on my mind. I also threw in a bear with a Steelers jersey. Gotta rep the local sports teams.

In this section, the Pirates and Penguins get a nod. So does Pittsburgh legend Mister Rogers. His X The Owl character is going about his day wearing a classic Mister Rogers sweater.

The City Paper was kind enough to throw me this gig, so I made sure to put a CP Newspaper box in the picture. It was also a convenient place to put that banana the monkey’s so interested in. Oh, and that chicken? Originally, he was ‘crossing the road’ but that’s one of those edits they made at the paper. No crosswalks on busways. So now chicken’s riding the bus. I guess there’s more than one way to cross a road.

Ducks feeding ducks, a teddy bear at a picnic, just another pleasant day in the park. And is that a familiar friend in the bottom right?

Yup. I snuck in alternate universe versions of my Bigfoot and Scout characters (and even their squirrel pal, Squeaky). It’s a friendly city. I’m sure Bigfoot would feel right at home here.

And if you’d like to read the City Paper piece about Pittsburgh Busways (by Ryan Deto), here’s a handy link to the online article. -v

Lil’ Kritters, Start To Finish

This is an illustration I did to freshen up my online gallery. Bunch of animals rocking out.

It didn’t take too long to finish, and the process is pretty straightforward. Here’s how I put it together.

Pencils: The pencils, as usual, were done on paper. Different scraps of paper that I scanned in and arranged in a general “rock band” formation.

Inks: I inked it in Clip Studio, using a standard brush. You could use any tool, of course. It really depends on what sort of effect you’re looking for. I wanted a standard, ink and brush look.

I inked this with either the G-pen (which is a nice, all-around brush that comes standard) or a Hairpin Sable (which might be a custom brush I bought online). Either way, any basic inking brush will work. Heck, you could even ink it on paper and scan it in.

Here’s the stage of the drawing where you witness the skunk keyboardist get Pete-Bested out of the band by the groundhog.

Here’s why: After I started inking, I realized that skunk would be a huge splat of black ink that would draw your eye away from everything else. So out goes Stinky, in comes Ringo.

Flats: I almost left it at this stage because it looked good enough to stop. You could probably make a case for stopping here, leaving it more of a graphic design statement than a fully-rendered illustration.

I actually like it like this. But it’s really just the stage where I separate the elements into easily-selectable shapes to model with highlights, shadows, and textures.

Modeling: Still in ClipStudio, I used soft pencil, chalk, and watercolor brushes to render the fur and feathers.

Logo, Levels, & Lighting: I worked up a quick logo for the bass drum in Photoshop (mostly because I just don’t understand the text tool in ClipStudio. Maybe I’m missing something but it seems really clunky and hard to work with). I slapped the logo on the bass drum and then adjusted my levels. Got the brights up a little brighter, the darks a little deeper.

Then it was time for the finishing touch – the spotlights.  Since I was in Photoshop already, I just drew some spotlight shapes with the selection tool, filled it with a warm light color, tossed on a blur and boom. Done. Like I said, it didn’t take long to finish this illustration. Most of the work was training a bunch of animals to play “Stray Cat Strut” so I could snap reference photos. Now that I think about it, I should’ve gotten it on video -v