I was originally planning to do a companion piece to the rat gargoyle, showing an angel in Westwind architecture. However, I got to listening to Loreena McKennit (thanks, Jason) and ended up taking some inspiration from the Twa Sisters of Binnorie. The irony of choosing a mute swan was unintentional. (Derwent Water Colour pencils on Bienfang Watercolor paper)
binnorie.jpg - 1999-03-22
Blackthorne, of the Brotherhood of the Black Pard, is a Westwind character created by my husband, Carl, but almost never actually played. This is a quick scribble to thank him for buying me the Wacom tablet on which I did it.
blkthorn.jpg - 1999-03-22
My obligatory RL picture. Kind of old, as the "hot news" on the Computer Shopper cover indicates. (No, I don't like having my picture taken, then or now.)
compshop.gif - 1999-01-30
Cyanocitta sciureus.The Squirrel Jay is one of the loudest and most colorful griffins of eastern backyards. Intelligent and adaptable, feeding on almost anything, it is quick to take advantage of bird feeders. Not always conspicuous, they slip furtively through the trees when tending their own nest or robbing the nest of another griffin -- Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Griffins. (Brushpen and colored pencil on Strathmore drawing)
cyansciu.jpg - 1999-03-20
On Westwind, Bats are rare and reclusive.They're called Demon Rats, and are depicted as rodents with wings (in addition to arms and legs), as in this gargoyle from the Lyon Hall. (Ebony pencil on Bienfang sketch.)
demonrat.gif - 1999-01-30
I suppose you were wondering why it was foxPAIR.gif... (Detail of unfinished work, EF Ebony pencil , on Bienfang sketch paper.)
foxpair.gif - 1999-01-01
Logo for the fur_art mailing list, home page at http://www.wirebird.com/fur_art/. Bah. The only art I have time to do right now is web page logos. At least occasionally I get to do critters. (Painter Classic, Wacom Artpad)
furart.jpg - 1999-07-19
Wichita is a bit too new, architecturally, to have very many gargoyles, so I'm lucky to be able to see this fellow from my office window. I love him - there is a great deal of detail to his face, and depending on the light he looks terrified, surprised, ferocious or bored. He's also quirkily asymmetrical, and someday I'll camp in the office two doors down and sketch him head-on.
garglion.gif - 1999-01-02
Hovering in front of a flower to sip nectar, the Ruby-throated Hummingbee beats its wings almost 80 times per second. Impressive migrants despite their small size, some of these microgriffins may travel from southern Canada to Costa Rica -- Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Griffins. (Ink and colored pencil on Strathmore drawing)
humbee.gif - 1999-03-27
"snow aNgel" - My husband likes snow leopards and a certain deceased artist.
kc-angel.gif - 1999-09-10
Santa was supposed to bring me a Wacom tablet for Christmas. Once upon a time I had a supercheap (though not all that inexpensive) version, and fiddled around a bit with Sketcher. Alas, it died several years ago. But I ran across some of my scribbles from that time period: original file date was 10/14/93. Sigh.
kcdragon.jpg - 1999-01-01
This is a more recent one, but still mongrelized. It's just a figure study to get the head structure right; I'm debating whether to do a full body shot or just go with the head shot (though with a full horn, of course).
kc_newun.gif - 1999-07-29
Jennifer Sabado's unicorn of 7/27/99 made me think of my own unicorns, which are more shaggy than fluffy, are admittedly white, and are mongrelized (somewhere between horse, goat and deer, as per Peter Beagle). This is an early one. Okay, so it's horrible, but I drew it in 1984. What did *your* art look like fifteen years ago?
kc_oldun.jpg - 1999-07-29
A white Dragon, Westwind style. Not really finished yet... I need to get some Verithins to do the finicky scale patterns on the jowls, and I have the rest of the torso sketched in to make it properly anthropomorphic. (Prismacolors on Strathmore Drawing, 6"x3")
kc_ruth.jpg - 1999-06-05
And this little unicorn is pretty much straight cervine, but for the requisite lion's tail, goat's beard, and horn. (And feathers. I can never resist feathers.) Gamma-overcorrected HB pencil.
kc_unide.gif - 1999-07-31
Occasionally I experiment with pen and ink. This began as an experiment in a slightly Disneyfied style, and ended up being a full-length portrait. Someday, I'll ink the rest. Mngwa is actually gray, but this version graced the first shades-of-brown Westwind page. The character is copyright Jason Knight, and appears in his Westwind/Savannah PBeM.
mngwa.gif - 1998-04-23
Monochrome monitor. (Hey, quit throwing things!) Drawn with an Ebony graphite pencil older than most of you. <sigh>
monitor.gif - 1998-10-14
Baby fire-lizard-like critter; illo for _Clockwork Hero_ Champions APA. (Media: No-name colored pencils on Bizmart photocopy of no-name felt-top and ball-point markers on random scratch paper. Always use artist-quality materials. That background was *white* seven+ years ago...)
packbaby.jpg - 1998-11-10
Passer musculus. One of the most widespread songgriffs in the world today, the Common Housegriff is native to Eurasia and northern Africa, but has succeeding in urban and farming areas all over the world. First introduced to North America in 1851, it is a permanent resident over most of its range -- Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Griffins. (Charcoal pencil on Bienfang Sketch paper)
pasmus.gif - 1999-01-17
A remark by the Westwind/Oasis gamemaster on the probable unattractiveness of camelmorphs, the ruling class in the Drylands, prompted this. It's a quick, unserious sketch, scanned in black and white (hence the jaggy blacks) and colorized using Paintshop Pro. In retrospect, I should have chosen a side view to show off the characteristic hump, but I think she's scary enough as it is.
pearl.gif - 1998-04-23
Just a random Rat peasant girl. The expression, pose and style are a nod to the illustrator for some of the Old Mother West Wind books; in the original picture, the character was Jimmy Skunk, and as I recall he had just given a young Raccoon his comeuppance. Exactly what this Rat girl has done, I don't know. (I'd say she's happy about Yerf being up, but I drew this way before it went down in the first place...)
peasant.gif - 1999-03-01
A color study for a larger picture (this one is a mere 3"H by 4"W), and a sort of test of whether non-cartoony furries look silly with hair (I'm still undecided). Berol Prismacolors on Mi Tientes (really too textured for small pencil works). One of the Westwind GMs remarked that he "would make a good Dread Pirate Roberts," hence the filename.
proberts.jpg - 1998-04-23
Petite (2"x1.5") sketch of Selket Mouse (copyright Jeff Johnson), another in the informal "to hair or not to hair?" series. Berol Prismacolor on Canson Strathmore.
selket.gif - 1998-04-25
A more current detail of "Six Snow Treasures," work-in-progress. (And a detail is probably all Yerf will ever see, unless someone buys me a scanner that can do 16x20...) The basic colors are all down, and now I'm starting to paint fur. Oog. I gotta lotta spots to go yet. Maybe I should have painted a mountain lion instead.
sixsnow2.jpg - 1998-10-25