Archive for June, 2009

Singular Sensation: The Hungry Tiger of Oz

Published by
Kevenn
June 30, 2009 in Illustration and Oz. 1 Comment

This Singular Sensation entry features my illustration of The Hungry Tiger of Oz that appears smaller and partially obscured on the “Contact Me” page of this site.  The Hungry Tiger was officially introduced in L. Frank Baum’s third Oz book, Ozma of Oz.  However, many people believe (and I’m one of them) that he was also the same tiger that appeared in a chapter near the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy and her friends are on their way to the Quadling Country in the south of Oz to see Glinda about getting Dorothy home.  In the chapter, the Cowardly Lion defeats a giant spider-like monster who is terrorizing animals in a forest, and he ends up becoming their king.

In Ozma of Oz, we meet the tiger, who is the Cowardly Lion’s trusty companion by this time, and we learn why he’s called the Hungry Tiger.  Apprently, he has an insatiable appetite for fat babies.  The thought of a corpulent little infant makes his mouth water, but he’s never able to devour one because his conscious always prevents him.  Throughout the Oz series, the Hungry Tiger is a member of Ozma’s court, and also serves alongside the Cowardly Lion as an imposing figure reclining near Princess Ozma’s throne.

For this illustration, the Hungry Tiger has often been depicted wearing a pink bow around his tail, but I thought that a teal green bow would pop better against the orange fur of the tiger.  Baum also wrote that the Hungry Tiger had purple stripes in his first appearance, but I’m not a fan of purple stripes on a tiger, and he’s usually not depicted having them either – by John O’Neill the most prolific Oz illustrator, or Michael Herring, who illustrated the covers for the Del Rey paperback editions that I grew up on.  For his face, I used some elements of my dogs Lucy and Humphrey for inspiration, especially when it comes to the tip of his tongue sticking out.

Hungry_Tiger_Kevenn_Web

Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils,  and Photoshop.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2010

Singular Sensation: The Cowardly Lion

Published by
Kevenn
June 22, 2009 in Character Design, Illustration and Oz. 2 Comments

This Singular Sensation entry focuses on the Cowardly Lion illustration that I did for the “Contact Me” page of this site.  I wanted to present him bigger here than he appears on that page.  Everyone knows the Cowardly Lion, but most people are used to thinking of the Cowardly Lion in terms of a person dressed up in a costume, like Burt Lahr in the MGM movie.  However, in the books, the Cowardly Lion is a real lion who talks, like all of the animals in Oz do.

I think that when the lion is presented as an actual large lion who acts cowardly, as opposed to a person in a costume, the visuals get to be more interesting and contradictory to the behavior.  For this interpretation of the Cowardly Lion, I wanted to make him more personal.  I made his eyes bigger than an actual lion’s eyes, while keeping the rest of the lion’s anatomical proportions intact.  Another thing about the eyes, were that I based them on my dog, Humphrey.  He’s like my own personal Cowardly Lion, who is all bark, but when someone actually stands up to him (like a cat), he runs away crying.

The bows are things that John R. Neill drew on the Cowardly Lion when he originally illustrated the Oz books.  I think they’re great touches that serve to visually reinforce the contrasts going on with the cowardliness and the powerful frame of a lion.  Michael Herring usually painted the bows light blue in the covers that he did for the Del Rey paperback editions of the Oz books, and those were the printings of the books that I grew up with, so I tend to try to give little nods to him and Neill when I illustrate Oz characters.

Cowardly Lion ©Kevenn T. Smith 2009

Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils,  and Photoshop.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2010