Monkey - concept sketch

This is generally how I work. Now getting here is still a juggling act of sketching, writing, thinking, looking, thinking, googling, thinking, and more thinking.

Starting with just the word monkey endless ideas can be conjured up. I thought I'd go with some pirate thief on an airship. Nothing wrong with that. Then I wanted to do something based off of a fantastic painting I've loved. A Gabriel von Max painting. I think he painted the monkeys to mock the art critics of the time. So, this is timeless? 

I then sat down to push further. I grabbed my Reckless Decks of cards for the first time. This really was the first time I felt a little stuck and needed something to ignite some new directions. 

I pulled out all the cards that spoke to me and was able to split them up into three unique character ideas. I started with the one above and it just evolved into exactly the path I wanted to take.

Here's all I know about this guy. He's all mysterious and stuff.

• He's blind
• He uses a chunk of stone with a red inlaid stone/gem in it to see.
• I don't know what the gem actually shows him.
• Something is making this rock artifact float. cool!
• He's the keeper of the keys, including the Key of Giants.
• His escort is a tortoise, I don't imagine he's in a hurry. She needs a name.

I'm really looking froward to working on this. I don't have a timeline set up just yet but I'm pretty sure some portion of it will be worked on at the Illustration Intensive up in Milwaukee next month.

This is going to be a pretty cool journey I'm taking as we move forward with these paintings. They will connect to each other somehow. 

April Metal Tokens

I have not forgotten. I'm still being super patient about waiting. I'm trying my best not to send daily emails to know more. But I should have some news of some sort later this week as I will reach out to find out when I can expect something. I apologize for the wait and I beg for your continued patience. It's not a matter of "if" but "when".