This Singular Sensation entry showcases my illustration of Yurgod the Gryphon that I did for the wrap-around cover of issue #37 of Oziana Magazine.  Yurgod the Gryphon is a character from the Russian Oz series of books.  When The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was translated into Russian, it seems that it took on a life of its own, and several follow-up books were written in Russian, completely separate from the Oz books that L. Frank Baum continued to write.

I was completely unfamiliar with Yurgod, but the challenge for the cover was to showcase characters that appeared in stories inside the issue.  Some characters I knew, but others, like Yurgod, I only had was a couple of images of him provided by my editor.  However, he was a visually appealing character, and I was eager to try my own take on him.  How could I resist the chance to draw a fantastical creature like this?  The drawings I had were very stylized, and I wanted to inject a sense of realism in anatomy to my version.  In order to depict him in a way that he would fit in even better with other Oz characters more firmly established in the canon, I wanted to add the bow to the end of his tail to echo the bows on the ends of the tails of the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger.  I think the bow makes him look decidedly “Ozzy.”

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

You knew it was coming – the Singular Sensation entry that features the last part of the website header illustration.  If you know The Wizard of Oz, you know who Dorothy is, however most people aren’t used to seeing her portrayed as a blond.  They expect to see a brunette with braided pigtails, ala Judy Garland.  While Dorothy did look like that in the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with Dorothy’s return in the third book of the Oz series, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy was portrayed as a blond with a fashionable haircut by John R. Neill.  Neill continued to portray Dorothy with this look throughout the books that he illustrated, which equaled to many more appearances than brunette portrayal in the first book.

Princess Ozma of Oz came on the scene in the second book of the series, The Marvelous Land of Oz.  Ozma, who was a fairy and the rightful ruler of Oz, was restored to the throne.  When Ozma and Dorothy met, the two got along famously and became best friends.  Ozma ended up making Dorothy a Princess of Oz.  In the sixth book of the series (which Baum intended to be the last, but was besieged with requests of “More Oz, Mr. Baum!”), The Emerald City of Oz, Dorothy, along with Toto, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Em (and Eureka the kitten whom we met in the fourth book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz) all moved to Oz permanently.

In portraying Dorothy, I like to stick to Neill’s blond take on her.  I also draw her with visual cues like silver shoes and in modernizing her, I give her a gingham-like print on her t-shirt.  In Oz, you never grow older unless you want to, and Oz creators like Eric Shanower have Dorothy changing with the time, while remaining a child.  Even Neill drew Dorothy’s hair cut changing trhough the years that he illustrated the Oz books, through the early 1900′s to the 30′s.

I like that approach.  Ozma is usually depicted as being a little bit older than Dorothy.  Her pendant is a representation of the different areas of Oz:  Green in the middle for the Emerald City, yellow Winkie Country to the west, the purple Quadling Country to the north, the blue Munchkin Country to the east, and the red Quadling Country in the south.  Ozma was usually drawn wearing two large poppies on either side of her tiara, which I followed, but I left off some of the ornamental ribbons that were usually included on there as a way of showing that in some ways, Ozma is keeping up with the times too.  Who wears ribbons in their hair any more?  Like Dorothy, Ozma was also drawn differently as the Oz series progressed, even getting a little older.  I also thought it’d be nice to break the background tradition for the Singular Sensation entries and include a more detailed background.  It better contrasts with the rainbow magic and sparkles.

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