The Tortoise ( I refuse to say 'turtle' as those are the marine reptiles ) was one of 2 that we had in our garden in Tanzania. One we picked up at the side of the road and the other we rescued from some kids who were threatening to crack open it's shell on some rocks. The tortoise shell is not some sort of external hardened skin as you might suppose, but it's the animals ribcage that has grown externally and fused into a shell. It's a good design because it has lasted many millions of years essentially unchanged. They are pretty remarkable animals...as is Bugs Bunny.
Why would God do that to an animal's ribs???
ReplyDeleteThis picture has so many levels. I'm all for the tortoise method of art-making, not the hare.
ReplyDeletethat tortoise illustration is incredible! is that a photo composite? how did you make that?
ReplyDeletePhotoshop, an old wacom tablet, a hard round brush and a soft round brush, then lots of patience. I looked at some reff photos of the original animal, but what's there is all drawn. The trick was getting the feeling of light falling on the shell, without being distracted by all the splodgy markings.
ReplyDeleteit looks incredible! i almost thought that you just painted on top of a photograph.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is really exceptional, Simon. You might have made a wrong career choice in becoming a cartoonist, when you might be better suited to painting portraits of tortoises.
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