Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Printable PDF

Here's an updated pdf file featuring higher resolution images of the first 9 cryptids for my coloring book project.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4557310/cryptozoology.pdf

The images are quite large, so it may take a while to download.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Roc

This one's more based in fantasy than most, but I loved the idea of a giant eagle living high up in the mountains of central asia, sort of a hold over from when other megafauna lived on Earth. 

I'm pleased with how the bird and goat turned out, but feel ambivalent on the background and tilted perspective. Just wanted to post it and put some time and distance between it before I decide whether or not  to redraw the mountains and sky.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Roc Sketch

 

Here's a look at my next coloring page, The Roc, a giant mythical bird often depicted flying away with adult elephants in its talons. The little mountain climber at the bottom right is meant to give scale to the bird.

I've got some busy weeks ahead of me, so new posts may be a bit scarce from now until the new year.

7th Voyage of Sinbad- Cyclops vs. Taro

Illustrating the epic clash between the captive dragon and two-horned cyclops in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, as animated by the great Ray Harryhausen. I realized as I was painting this just how influential all of Harryhausen's monster designs and animations were on my childhood and early interests as an artist.

It was good to get back to full color for this piece.

Inks: Cyclops vs. Taro

Decided to just do a color wash for the background, hence the lack of drawn detail there. I'll hit the whole thing with gouache and post the results next week.

Pencils: Cyclops vs. Taro

Since this drawing will likely take longer than just a few weeks to finish, I'll make each step of the process into a post. Here's my finished pencil draft, right before inking the lines and textures. After that, I'll hit it with either gouache or watercolor. The background didn't come through on the scan, which is fine because I still haven't decided where I want the battle to take place.

Sketch: Cyclops vs. Taro

Started working this week on my entry for a cult movie-themed opening at Studio ZaPow in downtown Asheville. I thought back to my childhood love of virtually every movie involving the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. Of them all, this particular scene showing the throwdown between the two-horned cyclops and the imprisoned dragon left the biggest mark. 

I love the fighting style of the cyclops. He just throws himself into his substantially larger foe and takes numerous severe wounds in stride. All said, I think he put up a great fight.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Merfolk

This was a tough one- hence the longer wait between posts.

I debated whether or not a human/fish hybrid would be too fantasy based, as most cryptids at least have some scientific explanation. There seemed to be no way to rationalize the combination of the two vastly different creatures. In the end, I thought of the "manatee-as-mermaid" myth and realized I could just combine the features of a primate with those of a seal or dolphin.

The story is that these guys evolved from primates that lived on small islands and learned to dive deep for shellfish. Unlike dolphins and seals, the Merfolk had already developed opposable thumbs before making the slow transition to an aquatic species. This proved to be a huge advantage in foraging, and in combination with dolphin-level intelligence, even allowed a complex social system to flourish.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book: The Loch Ness Monster- Redux

Another redo of one of the first cryptids I drew for the book. In my opinion, a vast improvement over the previous one.

Just one more page to go before I take a break and work on some other projects for a while.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Jackalope: Redux

I looked back on my original coloring page for the Jackalope and realize it didn't quite enough "essence of jackrabbit." I decided to redraw it to look more like the ink painting I made this summer. 

It's been a challenge to stay stylistically consistent across all the cryptid drawings. I expect to have to make many more revisions like this as I move forward with the project and develop my line art.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Dodo

This turkey-sized flightless bird once thrived on the island of Mauritius, off the eastern coast of Africa. It was long thought to be extinct due to predation by humans and other introduced carnivores. The dodo's fearlessness and stupidity caused them to be easy prey, and their numbers dwindled quickly with little resistance. Recent theories suggest that a small population of slightly more vigilant dodos still lives on the island.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Pages 1-6

Here are the first six pages of my Cryptozoology Coloring Book for you to download, print, and color.

Right-click and save the link below to download a print-ready pdf of all 6 pages...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4557310/Cryptozoology.pdf

...or scroll down and save the particular page you want to download.

Send pics of your work!

Bigfoot

Bunyip

Chupacabra

\

Jackalope

Nessy

Yeti

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Chupacabra

The infamous "goat sucker" of Mexican lore. Descriptions on this vary widely, so I decided to ground it as something close to a rodent-like Coyote.


This took A LOT longer to get down than I had planned. Just couldn't get the anatomy, composition and  poses to feel right. Still not sure how I feel about it, but I'm moving on for now regardless.

From the Drawing Board: Chupacabra

Quick look at my progress so far on the Chupacabra page in my coloring book. I fell behind schedule on this one by spending hours getting that goat just right. Such weird animals.

I'll be doing some touch-ups on my previous releases and posting the completed version of this, along with the other 5 in high-definition for your downloading, printing, and coloring pleasure.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Yeti

or Abominable Snowman

Habitat: slopes of the Himalayans
Diet: mountain goats, mountain climbers

Monday updates are go!

So glad to have something to post this week. Finally feeling like I have the time and energy to draw after a full day of art teaching. Now that I'm drawing again for the first time in weeks, I hope to keep the train moving and still meet my goal of a finished coloring book by the end of fall.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Jackalope

A coloring page version of my earlier jackalope illustration. This is the last coloring page I was able to complete before summer's end. Now that I'm back to full-time employment, my pace on these will slow down a bit. 

I'll post a downloadable, hi-resolution bundle of this project in the coming weeks. Still hope to get the full book completed and available for sale sometime in the Fall. 

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Loch Ness

Another page from my forthcoming cryptozoology themed coloring book.

This cryptid requires no explanation.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- The Bunyip

Another page from my Cryptozoology-themed coloring book project. 

Although more obscure than some of the other Cryptids I'm depicting, this Australian legend has been one of my favorites to imagine.  Descriptions of the beast range from a water spirit, dragon, bear, seal, cat, dog, to any combination of the above. I decided to keep mine firmly in the mammalian realm.

Give the Wikipedia article a read for some information.

A Slowing of Flow

I recently got an offer for a full-time teaching position starting in August. Preparing for this, upcoming visits from friends & family, and being in the middle of several long-term personal projects are all contributing to an overall decrease in the amount of work I'll be making over the coming weeks.

Check back every Monday for my weekly update, but expect to start seeing more doodles and sketches than finished illustrations until I get a couple weeks ahead of my planning.

Jackalope

Ink on canvas.

My submission for a Cryptozoology-themed art opening at Studio ZaPow. This began as another page in my upcoming coloring book project of the same theme, and I liked it so much that I decided to turn it into a full illustration.

Turns out there's a really fascinating theory involving a form of papilloma virus that may explain how the folklore around the jackalope got started. If you've got the stomach for it, check out the Wikipedia article.

More info on the ZaPow group show here.

Cryptozoology Coloring Book- Bigfoot

'

One of several pages I've completed for my Cryptozoology themed coloring book. I originally planned to have this out by the end of July, but decided to take a step back and spend a bit more time on the drawings and overall book design.

I hope to have the book completed this Fall, and I'll be sharing some of the pages as hi-resolution images free for download as I complete them.

That Looming Feeling #4

Ink on canvas

Number 4 in an ongoing series of ink drawings depicting our fears and anxieties as a hulking physical burden. I started the series in 2009 and revisit it about once a year.

To view the full series, visit my portfolio website.

Daily Sketch- Maisy

My girl. 

Giant Squid Boat Graphic

Just got some pictures of my boat decal design in action down in Naples, FL. I finished this vector drawing earlier this year and have been anxiously awaiting some photos of the final result. I hope to have some close-up shots soon.

Daily Sketch- Nerf Kid

Happy belated 4th!

Daily sketch- Flying Squirrel

Marker drawing- the main character of what is soon to be a 2 or 3 page comic strip. Nazi bats coming soon.

Almost there... Looming Feeling 4

Well, I'm driving home to Chicago tomorrow, and I didn't quite meet my goal of finishing this before I left. It's been a slog of a drawing, and I'll have to add the finishing touches when I get back next week. Even then,  the ink is so damn glossy that its going to require some professional imaging to get a file worth posting and reproducing as a print, so look for the finished piece in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, here's a preview of the beast chugging a jug of Carlo. This gives a good sense of the painted ink look too.

Process- Sal Meander

Ink & acrylic on canvas

Sal was a bootlegger on the Ohio in the early 1920's, garnering his grim reputation from his cruelty, complexion, and set of tiny needle-sharp teeth.

I made this tiny painting to test an idea for incorporating color into my ink-on-canvas work. My hope is to reduce frustration by laying down color first, as opposed to ruining a perfectly good ink drawing with a sloppy color job at the end. In the end, using an acrylic wash just didn't work as well as I wanted it to. The challenge now is to find a paint that will have the permanence of acrylics and the ability to water down well for backgrounds.

Here's a more specific breakdown of each step.

1- Apply coats of gesso to minimize rough canvas texture (probably could have done even more of this).
2- Rough pencil sketch.
3- Rough acrylic wash.
4- Refined acrylic wash.
5- India ink lines painted over wash.
6- Details added with both india ink and acrylic gesso.
7- Scratch that. Wasn't liking the background and decided to start over.
8- Background with ink wash.
9- Finishing touches.

First Look- That Looming Feeling #4

Here’s a glance at what I’m working on this week. This is a quick marker sketch trying to pin down the facial expression and posture of the central character in my Looming Feeling series of drawings. Look for a finished version next week.


Head over to my portfolio website to have a look at the previous three drawings in the series.

Daily Sketch- Hands

My other primary goal for the next few months is to spend at least an hour each day sketching subjects that I usually struggle with. Hopefully after some of this relatively intense exercise I'll gain a bit more fluency in these areas and maybe even create something worth sharing here.

Adrift #2

Ink on 5x7" canvas.

I've given myself a list of artistic goals for the summer, and one of them is to implement a distinct medium/style across numerous illustrations. My current plan is to work primarily with india ink on canvas, with some vague plans to bring color into the equation in later weeks. I thought it fitting to roll this style out with another small Adrift painting, but I also plan to use these materials to revisit my Looming Feeling series and some other ideas I have rolling around my head. Look for some process posts soon.

In case you missed it, here's Adrift #1 from last November.

Living Rock Growth

With summer just around the corner, I'll have enough time on my hands to crank out 2 or 3 updates a week. Until then, here's something else I've been working on...

This is a series of daily pictures taken over the course of two months of my Living Rock (Lithops) plant. This was during late winter/early spring, a period in the plant's cycle when even one instance of over-watering can be fatal. The four new leaves are able to grow by taking the water from the original two. 

I'm hoping to see a flower in the coming months. If so, I'll be sure to document it in a similar way. 

"Urban"- Exhibition at Studio ZaPow

Lookin good together...

Stop by ZaPow this Friday, June 1st, for Urban- a themed exhibition featuring the work of all the talented ZaPow artists, including an edition of small, framed prints of my entire That Looming Feeling series.

More info here.

Creeping Kudzu

Ink drawing with digital colors.

So relieved to have this behind me. Believe it or not, I originally intended this drawing to be just a quick study to launch a new series. Instead, I got bogged down with weeks of tedious Photoshop coloring. I'm pretty sure I like the final result, but it's all enough to make me want to stay away from this subject and media for a while.

Creeping Kudzu- rough colors

It's been a busy week. I did manage to spend a few hours adding some watercolor on top of the ink drawing, but it kind of failed. As I feared, I just couldn't define front and background enough with the relatively low-contrast watercolors I chose to use. Putting less ink detail on the background could have also helped.

Thankfully, I can still finish the piece using my backup plan- Photoshop. Since there's nothing else to post this week, I thought I'd throw up the start to that process. This is actually a quick color guide I made for myself before adding watercolor, even though in the end it didn't prove to be much use. 

Creeping Kudzu- inks

In process- a scanned ink drawing of the first entry in my new series "Creeping Kudzu," depicting a more aggressive version of the invasive vine. Despite its tendency to destroy biodiversity, there's a visual power in the way it covers everything and sends out tendrils to expand its reach that I want to capture.

I plan to color this in Photoshop, and I'm really hoping that controlling the color will give the foreground and background some contrast.

Boat Decal Proof

3' proof of my boat illustration came in the mail this weekend, printed on a vinyl decal. The final 8' version has recently been put on a fishing boat in Naples, FL, and I'm waiting for some pictures of the end result.

I'll post more images as they come to me.

New look, same great taste!

Check out my newly restructured portfolio website: www.jakelagory.com

Out in woods...

For the next several days I'll be out in the woods, backpacking the Art Loeb trail through North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest. Assuming I make it out (I fully intend to), it may take some time before I get motivated to share the story and to start producing again.

See you in a few weeks!

Sittin' On Top of the World

My entry for a sci-fi themed art show at ZaPow, the gallery where I show my work and sell prints.

Like many of my illustration concepts, this one came from imagining a literal interpretation of a common expression. With this piece, I thought it would be fun to take a line from the popular folk/blues song about maintaining a positive attitude and turn the meaning on its head. 

I picture these brainy-squid aliens as interplanetary nomads. Using minimal amounts of energy, they float through space and feed on the thermal energy at a planets' core.