Green woodpeckers

The (european) green woodpecker (Picus viridis) is a beautiful, middle size bird of our countries. It's quite common to ear his funny call, a kind of sonorous mocking laughter, and you can spot him while he moves with his undulating flight, but he tends to be rather shy, so it's not easy to watch him for a long time.
But this summer I was lucky enough to see a couple of them breeding in a field near a wood, and the observation was rather long and accurate. They are mostly green and mimetic, but they have a bright red crown - as if they were a bit vain. They walked calmly and watchful on the grass, looking for food.
When you see wild animals busy in their activities, it's easy to understand why  many traditional legends regard them as "small persons", little human creatures with a secret life. So I decided to remember my lucky encounter with a painting, "the secret life of green woodpeckers".

Done mostly in watercolor, with some gouache and colored pencils (sorry for the bad photo). Unfortunately I was not consistent in the color of the characters.

The boss

"You're fired!", he may say.

Done for no particular reason, except that in general I don't like bosses, or at least some kinds of bosses.
In two versions, as I didn't like the first attempt (the bottom one). Still quite unsatisfactory, but I should do something more focused on a couple of "projects" I'm working on.

Noses

A new sketch, just to warm my lazy hand...

Maid service

This month James Gurney's Art by Committee is about a business card:

Cinderella's maid service

a Wish come true

Melissa - Reference available

My image is actually set some years later. Melissa is no more a maid herself, but still runs her company with some employees. The maid service has evolved a bit during the years, as Melissa is always concerned about customer satisfaction...

For those who prefer drawings:

The friendly pirate

A quick sketch with quick digital color, made some time ago. Just for fun.

Love is blind/1

I've made some drawings illustrating the idea of blind love: pretty "ladies" in love with ugly "guys", or the opposite. And also other strange situations... just for fun...
This is one of the series. What is perhaps more interesting is the way a drawing becomes (or should become) a painting. Here is the original pencil drawing: a little girl with her beloved dog

In my attempt to make the girl very cute, I've probably made her a bit weird, too. But anyway...
Now I add some digital color in my usual (lazy) way: I keep the drawing in a separate layer, on the top, and then quicky fill in with some color. It's a fast technique, and it has many pros, but it's probably not painting (maybe I could call it coloring)

Now I sink the drawing into the color, and remove almost all lines, using tone and color to build shape.
A notable point: what works in a drawing, may not work in a painting. Look at the muzzle of the dog. In the drawing the construction is not correct, but it works, and it even adds to the weirdness of the expression. In the painting without lines, the same shape simply looked wrong, so I had to change it in a more correct way, possibly loosing some expression.
In general I think the drawing is more incisive, the painting softer and a bit more "dreamy" (of course I could easily make it stronger and more contrasted, but I prefer this way). Anyway, I'm probably a "drawing guy".

Below some preliminary sketches of chihuahuas, made from photos found on the internet. The purpose was to stress more and more the weird side of those dogs. I definitely don't like chihuahuas, but they are so fun to draw...

Dots...

“But when the dots did not vanish even after he scrubbed his fists across his eyes three times, he shouted hoarsely…”

This is the last assignment given by James Gurney for his "traditional" Art by Committee. I suspect that my proposal is a bit coarse, but anyway...


Of course, the drawing is reminiscent of both the scream by Munch and the cliché of the painter with Dalì-style moustache.

Knight and dragon/3

It is worth noting that in some versions of the story (for example the story of St. George), the dragon is just made harmless, not killed by the knight. To be precise: not killed immediately (St. George actually kills the dragon in the end of the story...). Anyway, I've tried to imagine what could happen if the dragon was not slain.
The title could be: knight, princess and dragon... 40 years later.