Meow

Fox and the Crow

Le Corbeau et le renard

Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché,

Tenait en son bec un fromage.

Maître Renard, par l'odeur alléché,

Lui tint à peu près ce langage :

"Hé ! bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau.

Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau !

Sans mentir, si votre ramage

Se rapporte à votre plumage,

Vous êtes le Phénix des hôtes de ces bois."

A ces mots le Corbeau ne se sent pas de joie ;

Et pour montrer sa belle voix,

Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie.

Le Renard s'en saisit, et dit : "Mon bon Monsieur,

Apprenez que tout flatteur

Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute :

Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute. "

Le Corbeau, honteux et confus,

Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus. 

Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695)

Mowgli and Baloo

I've recently been reading Rudyard Kipling's original Mowgli stories, which inspired me to draw this piece.

Deer

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Swan of Tuolena

The Wind in the Willows - Rat and Mole

 
"Nice? It's the ONLY thing," said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. "Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, "The Wind in the Willows" (1908)

Cat and Mouse

Cinderella and the Birds

An illustration to the version of "Cinderella" by the Brothers Grimm (known in German as "Aschenputtel"), in which the eponymous heroine is aided not by a fairy godmother, but by a magic tree and some birds.

Toad of Toad Hall

Not much more than a study, but here's a quick little sketch of the wayward protagonist from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. A story like The Wind in the Willows is easier to visualise than some comparable works, as it arguably doesn't have a set of definitive set of illustrations associated with it as the likes of Alice in Wonderland or Roald Dahl's books do (though I think it is worth saying that E.H. Shepard's illustrations are classic).

The Sadness of Birthday Bear

When Young Holly encountered Birthday Bear

The poor old teddy was in such despair.

"Come," said the girl,  handing him a sweet pea,

"Why all the tears? Why be melancholy?"

"Alas," said the bear, "'Tis a namesake curse!

"A grave malady that only gets worse!

"I long for my birthday most days of the year,

"But I weep and I wail when it gets here.

"You see, I'm reminded, like I'm Macbeth,

"That each day I'm ageing, closer to death."

Andersen's Duckling

Glam Elephant

A little something (or rather big something), sort of inspired by the animal ballet ("Dance of the Hours") in Fantasia. Also - 50th post!

Old European Legends

These past two days, I rendered some drawings based on some old European legends. The pictures may perhaps be a bit bleak compared to some of my other works, but I think they characterise the dark nature of the stories that they are illustrating.

Reynard the Fox: A medieval cycle from a shared European heritage (though mainly French and Flemish) satirising the epic poetry and romances of the day. In practically all of the episodes, numerous animals fall victim to the eponymous anti-hero's tricks.

The Golem of Prague: From Jewish folklore comes a mythical clay being created by Rabbi Lowe to protect his people from the pogroms facing them in the sixteenth century Prague. References to the character feature prominently in the Czech capital.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin: The most well known of the stories portrayed, concerning a mysterious minstrel who uses his magic flute to abduct the children of Hamelin (Hameln in German) after his deed of similarly removing the town's rats is left unrewarded by the town's mayor.

Happy Easter!

Mosko-Cat

Icarus the Dog

Corporate Wolves

"Capitalism has an intense, rich flavour."

  -Wolfgang P. Loupine, 2012                  

Postmodern Expressionism? To Bremen!

A few gouache studies on "The Bremen Town Musicians". A sort of mix of Mary Blair and expressionism, part of their aim is to attempt to capture the underlying Gothic spookiness that the original Grimm stories possess, with a sense of irony thrown in for good measure. The studies are for the scene of the animals standing on one another's back and bursting through the window of a woodland cabin in an attempt to scare away the robber inhabitants. It works, as the robbers wrongly believe they're being attacked by a demon...hence my choice of hellish colours for an otherwise cosy cabin and demonic forms for a bunch of otherwise cute animals.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

In the darkest depths of a very cold British winter, unnerved by the night arrived just after 4pm, shrouding a below-freezing and snowy landscape in black, out came a delightful fellow from my warped mind:

This creepy creature was created with gouache, with a Faber Castell PITT pen providing the teeth. After having scanned this image into the computer, I did some minor touching up (the removal of a few pencil marks, as well as the addition of a pupil). Oh, and did I mention that I did this on Christmas Eve?