From sketch to completed drawing - The Crested Gibbering Newt

The Crested Gibbering Newt.

This is a new series showing the initial sketch when the idea was formed and then the completed drawing.

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Here is the first rough sketch, which I doodled on the train. This is following on from a series “Searching for the Pink-Spotted Mountain Cat”. 

 

 

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The characters are now in place and I’ve started colouring in. The background has also been outlined. 

 

 

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After finishing the picture, I got some feedback to improve it further: 

 There water and the sky are very similar colour-wise. You can get away with making the river a lot darker and blue-green to the edges, and being more selective with the reflections on it. Remember that the reflections will be the colour of the objects reflected, so you have some flexibility with whether they are all white or not.

 

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Here is the cartoon with the alterations as per the suggestions.

The Crested Gibbering Newt

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Continuing on the search for the elusive Pink-spotted Mountain Cat, noted amateur naturalist Lionel Peabody and his niece, Suki, moved ever-deeper into the wilderness. Joining them, as always, was the ever-loyal Reggie the honey badger.

It was while fording a mountain stream that Suki encountered another rare species - The Crested Gibbering Newt. This particularly perculiar newt is only found in a few remote mountainous habits and is content to dwell an altitude far higher than other amphibians. 

George Hwoop, studied the collection of unusual sounds that the newt emits, and finally concluded after forty years of investigation that he didn’t have the slightest notion what they were carrying on about. He later quit zoology to open a fried lettuce stall in Hamburg.

Drawing ‘a visit by a flock of Blue-breasted Belchards’

In this post I’ll talk through how I created the recent cartoon below. 

 

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Here is the cartoon which appeared in a previous post. The characters featured are Lionel Peabody, noted amateur naturalist, who is accompanied everywhere by his faithful companion Reggie the honey badger. Lionel and Reggie have appeared in several previous cartoons, often in search of rare and unusual species. 

For this cartoon I wanted to add a third character, Lionel’s niece, who has actually appeared in one previous cartoon with the pair. I wanted to experiment with the dynamic of adding a third character with a very different personality to Lionel to the strip. 

The previous cartoon they appeared in was:

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Which also introduced the elusive Pink-spotted mountain cat.

For the background for the new pic I was watching around for a background of a winding river or stream, but eventually decided to reuse the background from a previous cartoon:

 

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And here is the background I thought I’d modify to look like a river:

 

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For Suki sitting one the log, I thought thatI would modify a different character used in a previous cartoon. 

 

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This is Italian movie star Luisa Mentolo, with a shoeshine terrier. The full story of the shoeshine terrier can be found here:

 http://www.everyonelovescartoons.com/blog/2018/2/26/lesser-known-dog-breeds-the-shoeshine-terrier

Reggie the honey badgers pose was modified from the previous picture featuring the mountain cat. 

I originally thought of having a group of crows up to mischief, but instead decided to come up with a different bird species. The idea being that during their search for the elusive Pink-spotted Mountain Cat, they discover other unusual and bizarre creatures along the way. 

I might modify the cartoon a bit further, but I’m pretty happy with how it’s turned out so far.

A visit by a flock of Blue-breasted Belchards

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The search for the elusive Pink-spotted Mountain Cat continues.

Noted naturalist Lionel Peabody, accompanied by his faithful companion Reggie the honey badger, and joined also by his niece Suki, continue their search for the elusive Pink-spotted Mountain Cat.

While stopping to have lunch by a stream, Lionel and Suki were visited by a flock of Blue-breasted Belchards, who proceed to try and scrounge something to eat.

The Belchard is a species of bird almost permanently afflicted by gastritis which accounts  for the ongoing burping sounds that the bird emits. The Belchards diet is fairly appalling, being willing to eat pretty much anything, but in particular favors poisonous mushrooms, old toads, and pickled onions.

The Belchard was discovered in 1923 by amateur Austrian ornithologist, Hans Vordermemory. Hans kept several of the birds in his home as pets so that he could study them at close-quarters. Through extensive practice, Hans found that he was able to imitate the birds unique call and to strike up basic communication with them. In 1925 Mrs. Vordermemory banished the birds to the garden shed, and one year later her husband as well.

It is related to the crow family, but most respectable crows would certainly deny it. Although referred to here as a flock, the actual correct name for a collective of this species is ‘a gas of Belchards.’

 

 

In search of the Pink-spotted Mountain Cat

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With the coming of the spring thaws, noted naturalist Lionel Peabody, accompanied of course by his faithful companion Reggie the honey badger, set off to record the first photographic evidence of the elusive and extremely rare Pink-spotted Mountain Cat. 

Joining him on this exhibition was his niece Suki, currently studying zoology at university. When  Peabody told Suki that the discovery of a new species would do far more to further her studies and career than attending lectures, she was easily persuaded to join.

The Pink-spotted Mountain Cat is one of the rarest of cat species. It is not sure how rare it is, due to the rarity of finding any evidence for it whatsoever.  Found in remote mountain regions, the cat preys on hares and small deer, but is especially fond of sausages.

 

Here’s the image I based the cartoon on. 

 

 

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Lesser Known Dog Breeds - The Shoeshine Terrier

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Terriers have a reputation for being tenacious, and perhaps even stubborn at times, none more so than the Shoeshine Terrier, whose role in life is to keep doggedly polishing away to ensure that your shoes are kept in tip-top condition.

The breed originated due to the efforts of Gladwin Teaspoon, the owner of the legendary Sasstrypuss hotel in San Francisco, famed for being the first hotel in the world to offer hang gliding lessons off of its roof and predating the extreme sports craze by several decades.

Always on the look out for ways to enhance the guests stay, Teaspoon conceived of a pack of terriers to fetch, polish, and then return the guests shoes that they left outside their room for cleaning.

They soon proved to be most proficient at the task, and pups were subsequently sent to Teaspoons many contacts and fellow hoteliers.

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Italian movie star, Luisa Mentholo, star of the classic "The Thing From The Kitchen Cupboard”,  always kept a Shoe Shine Terrier on hand to ensure that her footwear was kept mirror-like at all times.  Visitors to movie sets in the 1960s could usually find her terrier, Marcelo, curled up under her chair, ready to spring into action between takes. Autograph hunters were sure to request Marcelo's paw print to go alongside his mistresses signature.

Shoe Shine Terriers can still be found prowling the corridors of The Sassytrypuss hotel in the early morning, each one carrying a different colour polish brush in it's mouth to ensure that all hues of shoe are catered for.

In few remarkable cases the dogs have even proved adept in being able to help in the repair of footwear, helping the cobblers by chewing off loose soles to enable their replacement.

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Some genetic trait, inherent to the breeds, ensures that Shoe Shine Terrier's coat can only ever be white. Which, unfortunately, isn't the best of colours when you are dealing with shoe polish all day long.

Geoffrey Rush as Giacometti

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I went to see “Final Portrait” starring Geoffrey Rush as Giacometti. I really enjoyed the film, and felt that Geoffrey Rush did more acting when he was lighting up cigarettes than most actors in a lifetime. 

Armie Hammer played James Lord, who had just popped down to Giacometti’s studio for a day or two to sit for a portrait. It took a little longer than that....

Hammer was a great foil to the eccentricities of Rush’s character. It of the great pairings that I’ve seen in film.