Sleigh Ride in Oz by Kevenn T. Smith
Monday, February 10, 2020 at 10:37PM 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.
