Nothing Wrong With Singing Silly Songs by Kevenn T. Smith

This illustration is another piece that will be featured in my forthcoming Oz book. This is Scraps, the Patchwork Girl of Oz, who debuted in the seventh Oz book by L. Frank Baum, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Scraps was created by the wife of the wizard, Dr. Pipt, who created the Powder of Life, a magical powder that would bring inanimate objects to life and imbue them with a personality. The Patchwork Girl was intended to be a servant to Margolotte, the wizard's wife, and she had intended to give her brains with only qualities like obedience, amiability, truth, and only a little amount of cleverness.

However, at the time, Dr. Pipt and Margolotte had visitors, a Munchkin boy named Ojo and his uncle. While most of the adults were distracted, Ojo felt sorry for the Patchwork Girl about to be brought to a life of servitude, so he added more cleverness and other qualities from Margolotte's cabinet like judgment, courage, ingenuity, posey, and self reliance. Upon being brought to life, the Patchwork Girl, who came to be named Scraps, said a big NOPE to a life of servitude and joined Ojo on an adventure and eventually settled in the royal palace of the Emerald City as one of its unique celebrities, continuing to be a free spirit who often broke into, song, verse, dance and play.

A refusal to be what those who created her intended. Can't imagine why I would relate to that. She was always my favorite Oz character, and I hope to do her justice in my own book.

Her figural illustration is now available on several products at my Redbubble Store, like t-shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, face masks, kids clothes, hoodies, dresses, socks, tote bags, etc. 

It's also available on several black products, if you're like me and like to wear black a lot. In the meantime, please enjoy this illustration here (Click on the thumbnails below to view the larger images):
Nothing Wrong With Singing Silly Songs by Kevenn T. Smith, an illustration of the Patchwork Girl of Oz 
Close-up shot of the Patchwork Girl of Oz, Scraps, by Kevenn T. Smith"Nothing Wrong With Singing Silly Songs" by Kevenn T. Smith
Digital Illustration - Photoshop
©2024 Kevenn T. Smith 

You've Found Me by Kevenn T. Smith

To celebrate the Holidays, I've posted a video of a live performance of a bare-bones version of my song, You've Found Me, which will appear on my forthcoming EP, Compass. This song also ties into the Oz book that I'm working on. Click on the link below to watch the video on my YouTube channel and thanks for watching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOum2-HbzxE

©Kevenn T. Smith 2023

Put a Web On It by Kevenn T. Smith

My local comic book shop holds an annual auction of art created by customers in the form of comic book covers to raise money for the Cleveland Food Bank. In 2022, the theme was "Spider-verse," and my entry depicted Beyoncé as Spider-Woman. I even came up with a glittery logo that said "Spider-Bey" for that version that was sold at the auction. And while that version will always remain unique, I'm now offering prints, t-shirts, stickers, hoodies, and other merchandise with a logo-less version of the artwork at my Redbubble store.

Right now, from July 10 2023 to July 17th 2023, everything on the Redbubble webstore is 20% off! No code needed! Click on the image below to go to its page at the store.
Put a Web On It: Kevenn's Redbubble Store Page"Put a Web On It" by Kevenn T. Smith
Digital Illustration
©2023 Kevenn T. Smith 

Compass by Kevenn T. Smith

In my previous blog entry here, I talked about how I am currently working on writing and illustrating an original Oz book. What I didn't mention was that I'm also working on an album of songs from and inspired by the book alongside it.

I've been writing songs since I was about 13. Much like the book, it's been a long-time dream of mine to create an album of my songs (with one planned cover song so far). Putting together the songs, writing, and setting them to actual music has been such a deeply enriching creative process for me. It's also a lot of learning and new ground treading for myself, but it becomes really rewarding when I can hear a song start to sound like what I've had playing in my head.

The first song that I'm "releasing out into the wild" is called Compass. Below is a link to a live performance of a stripped-down version of the song that I've put up on my YouTube channel. I hope you like it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jv1-nMrUw0

©Kevenn T. Smith 2023

The Heart & Mind of Oz by Kevenn T. Smith

One of my dreams since I was a kid was to write and illustrate an Oz book. Back in the day, I ended up imagining more book titles of stories that I wanted to see that took place in the Land of Oz and the magical lands around it, and I even drew up cover illustrations for these made-up Oz books. That's about as far as it went back then. Just ideas and situations and characters that I wanted to see. I hadn't even read all of the Oz books back then, because they were pretty hard to track down in those days with no internet and only a meager allowance.

The older that I got, I didn't really know if I had an Oz story inside of me to tell. I had offers to work on other people's Oz books and stories here and there, but most of them never seemed to be the right fit for me and the story that I was also interested in telling. I did eventually have an idea about a story that I wanted to tell that took place in a land like Oz, and when I was relaying my idea to someone, they asked, "Why don't you just write it taking place in Oz?" Could I even dare? Would my story idea even work? Years later, I'm still working on it, but I think I've found a way to make this story work.

So yes, I'm writing and illustrating my own Oz book! I found that I actually DO have an Oz story inside of me to tell. It's taking me a while to get it all written, and it's going to take me more time to do that and fully illustrate it, but I feel that it's a good story, and I hope to do it justice. I'm not ready to let you know the title of the book just yet (I have a title, and I think it's PERFECT), but I'll be sure to announce it here when I'm ready.

In the meantime, I'd love for you to enjoy the first fully produced illustration that I've made for the upcoming book. It depicts our beloved and well-known Oz celebrities, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. They're enjoying couch time on a lovely afternoon day with a book. Eagle-eyed viewers should be able to easily figure out where this scene is taking place in Oz, and I think this piece does a good job of showing the relationship between these two characters that I'll be showcasing in my forthcoming book.

But for now, the characters, the book, and the couch of this illustration are available on various products like t-shirts, hoodies, kids' clothes, tote bags, and face masks at my Redbubble store. Just click the linked text here!

Also available in "Winkie Edition," where some of the items have yellow backgrounds instead of black backgrounds at my Redbubble store by clicking this text.



"The Heart & Mind of Oz" by Kevenn T. Smith
Digital Illustration - Photoshop
©2023 Kevenn T. Smith