Old King Cole Was a Merry Old Toad—I mean Soul

I finished this illustration, slated for my portfolio, yesterday. I had to wait for areas in the fiddles and crickets/grasshopper to dry some in order to add some detail.

So, to remind you of what's going on here, I tried to interpret this with animals, and for some reason, a toad came to mind. Also, when doing some research into the history of the nursery rhyme (at Wikipedia, nothing too in-depth), they suggested that in the era that this may have been written, pipe could have meant a recorder or flute as much as a smoking pipe. And, since he had called for his fiddlers three, it could have very well meant that OKC was making music too.

And, if I've chosen a toad for the main character, then what other creatures would fit? His servants, the fiddlers naturally seemed fitting as crickets and grasshoppers. Those insects make music in the real world, don't they? And, is this a friendly arrangement, or are they pressed into service....?

See the frog-in-waiting in the background? He's providing a selection of pipes here. And the bowl is brought in to the king, balanced on a snail's shell. This is a fairy tale world, mind you.

I'm going to send this out to some children's magazines.

As far as technique, this is a charcoal drawing (see the below post), with oil tinting over the top. Not sure if I'll continue in this vein. I returned to it after several years, but had the same trouble now as I did then: keeping things from looking muddy. I'll probably just go to straight oils. See the upcoming illustration: Alone in the Topiary Garden—under drawing coming in the next day or so.

Rikki Panel 1 Finished

While developing my portfolio for children's illustration, I have drawn Rikki Tikki Tavi.

This is the first of three panels I plan to do. I haven't drawn in charcoal for many years and decided to get back into it to create a noir atmosphere and because it's so quick to get coverage in large areas, and easy to build up dark darks.

I haven't just drawn a full picture in a long time. I normally draw enough for a template for my digital work. As I drew, I relearned a lot of things. Trying to cast highlights back into shadow areas, which means to leave areas light or white. Going back and erasing out to get those highlights, or drawing back in with white pencil is just not as clean. Also, I had to get used to using one of those paper smudging stumps again in order to blend small detail areas. I think I was in junior high last time I fiddled with one of those.

One thing I'd like to overcome is the amount of sparkly white texture you can see throughout the dark areas. This was done on cold press 300 illustration board, medium texture, and I wonder if I went with the lighter texture, if it would still grab the charcoal as well.

The next pieces in this series will be Rikki first encountering the cobra Nag, in the garden under the tailor-bird's nest, and the deadly fight scene in the bathroom. We'll see.

The next posting should be the color piece I'm nearly done with for Old King Cole.

Illustration Underdrawing of Old King Cole at Final Charcoal Stage

When last we left OKC, he was just line work. I think after today, I'll say the black and white work is done.

   Next, I'll apply oil tints. The grasshopper and 2 crickets are not very visible at this point, but I'll bring them back out in opaque color. The background colonnade will drop way back after it gets it oil washes.

   Now, for some candlelight.