Sleigh Ride in Oz by Kevenn T. Smith

It's been a while since I've done artwork involving any of the Oz characters, and this was the perfect time to get back to them. I wanted to create a winter scene with Oz characters because I send out postcards every winter to people on my mailing list - because I can never get it together to send out cards at Christmas time. This way, my cards are a nice bonus at the beginning of the year, and they don't get lost amongst all the other cards people are receiving around the Holidays.

This piece depicts the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and Scraps the Patchwork Girl in a royal sled racing through a snowy section of the northern Gilliken Country of Oz. You don't see him, but I imagine that the sled is pulled by the Sawhorse. You can see his hoofprints in the snow, however.

I'm currently working on my own Oz book, and I wanted to begin to find the way that I am going to portray these characters visually in it. I also wanted the art to convey how I envision them not only visually, but something about each of the characters' personalities and essences. My goal is for the book to be the kind of Oz book that I would have loved to read as a boy, that respects the world of Oz as crafted by L. Frank Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson, whose Oz books I grew up reading, but also has a modern feel and interpretation. I want the book to feel like a balance of utmost respect for the past, but also a pulse on the present. It has been my dream since I was a young boy to make an Oz book. I used to draw up covers for new titles of books that I'd like to see. However, I'd never really had a whole story inside me that I felt that I needed to tell. Until now. Writing a GOOD Oz book is very hard. Writing the kind of Oz book that I like to see, one that mostly takes place in the actual Land of Oz, and making that book GOOD is even harder. Especially if you're trying to honor what has come before, yet also tell a story that has conflict and discovery. I hope readers will feel that my story is a GOOD Oz story, and enjoy the tale as well as the illustrations that I plan on accompanying that story. This will obviously be a labor or love and time, but hopefully the book will be ready to be sent off into the world in the next two years or so. #LoftyGoals

In the meantime, please enjoy this latest illustration. It is available at my Red Bubble store as prints, posters, pillows, ipad cases & skins, laptop cases & skins, mug, tote bags, drawstring bags, zipper pouches, journals and notebooks. Just click on the picture to go there.
"Sleigh Ride in Oz" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2020

This piece is also available in a trimmed format as postcards and greetings cards at my Red Bubble store.

The Ascension of Polychrome - Prints, Clothing & More!

This week sees the release of the movie "Oz, the Great and Powerful" on Blu Ray & DVD. Also, June is PRIDE month, so what better way to celebrate both than the release of my piece "The Ascension of Polychrome" now available as prints, t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, cards, post cards, and kids' clothes on Redbubble.com? While Polychrome isn't featured specifically in "Oz, the Great and Powerful," the rainbow does make an appearance, and Polychrome is the Daughter of the Rainbow... You can read more about this piece from my previous entry on it when I first debuted it on this site here.

As usual, the clothing comes in assorted sizes, colors, and styles - simply choose your favorite! Click on either of the images below to go directly to the listing on my Redbubble.com store.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2013

The Ascension of Polychrome by Kevenn T. Smith

This illustration, The Ascension of Polychrome, was made for the 2012 Winkie Convention Program Book.  This year, the Winkie Convention is celebrating the 100th year anniversary of L. Frank Baum's 1912 book, Sky Island, the follow-up to his 1911 book, The Sea Fairies. 

In the book, the young heroine, Trot, and her companion, Cap'n Bill, meet a young boy named Button Bright (who first appeared in Baum's 5th Oz book, The Road to Oz), and the three end up flying with a magical umbrella to an island high in the sky known as "Sky Island."  They first land in the Blue country, where everything is blue and the people are none too friendly.  They manage to escape through the fog bank separating the blue country from the neighboring Pink Country, where the people are more pleasant, but they're still not welcome to stay.  The law leads them the Pinkies to believe that Trot and her companions must be thrown over the edge of the island to their deaths.  Fortunately, Polychrome, the Rainbow's daughter, (who also appeared with Button Bright in Baum's 5th Oz book, The Road to Oz)arrives and stops the execution, and finds a loophole in the Pinkies' Book of Laws to not only save Trot, Capn' Bill, and Button Bright, but to declare Trot their leader.  The Rainbow returns, and Polychrome ascends into it to return to her sisters and her father, which is the scene I wanted to depict here.

When creating this piece, I one of my goals was to capture the feeling of the many paintings depicting Christ's ascension into Heaven.  I felt that in the book, Polychrome was a kind of divine savior figure, descending from on high and reversing the fortunes of Trot and her companions, as well as bringing an abundance of color into a monochromatic world.  Like the Greek Goddess of the rainbow, Iris, she brings color and knowledge with her, which in turn brings growth and change.

The Ascension of Polychrome by Kevenn T. Smith ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012Polychrome Detail ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012Violet Sister Detail ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012Red Sister Detail ©Kevenn T. Smith 2012Pencil, ink, Photoshop
@Kevenn T. Smith 2012

This piece also gave me the opportunity to use a live model for my Polychrome.  The last time I depicted Polychrome, a friend of mine said that she looked like the actress, Elizabeth Mitchell, who appeared in the movie Gia, with Angellina Jolie, and the ABC television shows LOST and V.  I thought about trying to search for pictures of Elizabeth Mitchell at the angles I wanted to draw the figures for the piece in as reference material, but that would have taken too much time and may not have yielded the results I was hoping for. 

Then, I remembered that my friend, the superbly talented and beautiful Cleveland actress, Emily Pucell, often reminded me of Elizabeth Mitchell.  Luckily, Emily was kind enough to pose for me to use not only as Polychrome, but as her two sisters as well.  This was the first time Emily has ever modelled for a drawing or painting, but she said she would definitely consider doing it again.  Emily graduated in 2005 with B.A. degrees in Theater and History from Miami University.  She performed in her first play at the age of 12, but has been working professionally as an actor since her graduation in 2005.  Emily will next be seen onstage in the forth-coming show by Cleveland's Theater Ninjas this fall.