New sketch: The Treat

The Treat  Sketch by Laura Hoffman:  July 17, 2013

Here is a new sketch - hot off the pencil today.
I'm going to paint it with all this energy emanating from the hand. It's all about that magic moment in time when the goodie is offered by their human.

This is Penelope and her aunt Ginger - two older lady dachshunds who are shamelessly motivated by treats.

Fat Cat

Not too long ago I started a series of Idiom paintings.
Idioms are so much fun to illustrate, providing a golden opportunity to show what a phrase or play on words means to me.

Just like in my other idiom painting "Holy Cow,"
http://laurahoffmanart.blogspot.com/2012/08/holy-cow.html
the idiom "Fat Cat" brings ups up all kinds of ideas about what it really means to be a fat cat.

Fat Cat is a political term originally meant to describe a filthy-rich political donor who is able to buy access and influence, to fuel that rich person's personal gain. Fat Cats can live easy off the work of others.

Here is my Fat Cat painting:

Fat Cat by Laura Hoffman

Here is what inspired me to paint Fat Cat, painted while we were going through the bank bail outs in 2008 - 2009:

Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast (1840-1902), the American illustrator known for coming up with the look of Santa Claus, mocked Tammany Hall's notorious king of corruption, Boss Tweed - the quintessential fat cat of his day.

Through years of fearless caricature, Nast's illustrations helped promote the downfall of one of New York City's most crooked and corrupt politicians. His merciless political cartoons helped identify and bring down fat cat Boss Tweed, who ended up dying in jail in 1878.

 

It is estimated that Tweed and his cronies stole anywhere from $400 million to $2 billion dollars in today's terms during a two year period from 1870 to 1871. Legend has it that Boss Tweed offered Thomas Nast $1 million to "Stop them damn cartoons!" But Nast refused the bribe.

Here is my sketchbook  drawing of my version of a Fat Cat:

Fat Cat sketch

Fat Cat in progress.

Finished painting of Fat Cat, by Laura Hoffman

Fat Cat was first sketched, then painted using mixed media. The stripes are applied last, following the fat stuffy contours of the Fat Cat's body. Look closely, and you'll find his gold watch straining against his pin striped suit and the glow of his fat cigar. His fluffy hair is poofing out of his 3 piece suit in unfortunate places.

Fat Cat, my painting, has made the rounds!

It won entry and a certificate of merit in SI-LA (Society of Illustration of Los Angeles) Illustration West #48 competition and exhibition (March 2010).

From Society of Illustrators web site - Fat Cat entry on Si-La West #48

Fat Cat has hung proudly in a few exhibitions at CSUF (California State University Fullerton).

Laura Hoffman in front of her paintings at CSUF's Evolving Narratives MFA show

 

Here I am at the Evolving Narratives MFA Illustration show, curated by Barbara Malley.

http://titanillustrationgrads.blogspot.com/

I donated Fat Cat to LCAD’s (Laguna College of Art & Design) annual Collector’s Choice fundraiser.

http://www.lcad.edu/collectorschoice/gallery_viewer.php?id=463

Another version of Fat Cat is hanging now at the Orange County Fair until August 12.

http://laurahoffmanart.blogspot.com/2012/07/artwork-at-oc-fair.html

Holy Cow!

I love working out images for idioms, illustrating what a play in words looks like to me.

So there's that outburst, "Holy s**t!" that is best said in a more polite way. Saying "Holy Cow!" is a good substitute. A lot of people say this when in awe of something, or if you drop a hammer on a foot. I find myself saying, "Holy Cow" more than most people.

So here is another explanation I painted for Holy Cow - or Holey Cow, in my Idiom series.

Here are the sketches as I worked on what a "Holy Cow!" really looks like.

My Muse: Penny the Dachshund

Three summers ago, we rescued a 7 year old dachshund named Penny. Though I have grown up with dachshunds, as an adult I've always had cats - and love cats.

When Penny came into our lives, everything changed. We bonded immediately. She has us wrapped around her powerful little paws. Now she is our spoiled and indulged little friend, who charms everyone in her wake.

Being a hilarious little dog, she has inspired a new book project, starring herself!

Here, she is doing what she does best - going to bed after a long day of playing, sleeping, walking, romping, eating, sleeping more and getting petted. This might be the dust cover jacket.

 Originally, her co-star was going to be another dachshund - a puppy, but that has since changed.

Here are some sketches of Penny, the main character for the book project:

I'm working on capturing Penny from different views. She just turned 11 and moves a little slower now, so she keeps a pose long enough to draw her from life.

The paintings are drawn traditionally with graphite. I like the energy of the original drawn line  to show up under transparent washes of paint.  Over the next year, I hope to complete sketches (called a "dummy") for a 32 page picture book that features Penny as its star character.

Cat Sit

Recently, I got an assignment to create artwork for the letter 'C' for an alphabet book
called "Sick of School," a different kind of alphabet book.

The book is still in progress.

Letter C stands for Catatonia, which we changed to Cat at on Ya. Why not?
It's really about a cat sitting on a kid; fat cats sit on anything.

Here are some initial sketches:

Cat at on Ya, thought to be too disturbing...

This one was more on the right track...

We liked the version with the cat looking back.

Now, on to the final painting for Cat at on Ya:

But there's something missing; 

Why the cat looking over his shoulder?

 

Here is the final version for Cat at on Ya. Look for Sick of School, a different kind of alphabet book.

The Beaver

One of the characters I came up with for the Moose project was The Beaver.

In the story, the moose comes across a beaver, who ends up being of no help to the moose as he tries to find friends along his journey.

Never having drawn a beaver before (I don't know why), I looked them up and came up with these sketches:

I ended up refining his head to look like this:

So this was the final sketch for the page:

 

Here is the beaver in color:

Here is the facing page, where the beaver goes about his business, 

since the moose is no use to him.

I found that when designing and drawing a character, the slightest nuance or gesture matter; an arched eyebrow, a sidelong glance or a tilt of the head can dramatically affect the character's expression and role in a story. Here, the beaver cares more about his business than about the moose as they go off in different directions. 

The sticks were fun to paint! The beaver was really my favorite character, although the bug-eyed bird was a close second (see last post about The Moose Project).