No Green Eggs Or Ham: Dr. Seuss, Birthdays, and Return for IF

All March I’ve been creating art every week, in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and since I’ve been celebrating his birthday all month, I thought I’d make the final illustration birthday themed. I’ve also been incorporating the prompt for Illustration Friday into my art, and this week is no different. The prompt is, Return. I thought it would be fun to have the green eggs and ham returned to Sam, and exchanged for a birthday cake. This is a quick sketch so that I could get the image up while it’s still March (won’t have time to work on it tomorrow):



Needless to say, Sam is stunned at the turn of events. Here’s a close-up so you can see Sam:



I also did this image for my friend Jen, who has a  birthday today, and would probably rather have cake than green eggs and ham! It was fun to start the month with Dr. Seuss’s birthday and end the month with my friend’s birthday. Happy Birthday Jen!  

Sue Sews Six Thousand Socks: Swamp for IF and Dr. Seuss

All this month I’ve been paying tribute to Dr. Seuss by creating a Seuss themed image combined with the Illustration Friday prompt. For the previous weeks, I tried to incorporate Seuss’s style into my art.
This week, however, I’ve moved away from his art to show my style.

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is Swamp. I combined that with Sue from Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. (Sue is SWAMPED with sock orders and has to sew six thousand socks!) Fox in Socks is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, and I’ve always liked Sue, so it was fun to re-imagine this part of the book. In case you’re not familiar with the original, here’s what Mr. Fox says when Sue enters the book:

New socks.

Two socks.

Whose socks?

Sue’s socks.

 

Who sews whose socks?

Sue sews Sue’s socks.

My Sue has similar hair and clothes to the one in Fox in Socks, but she likes polka-dots and sewing lots of socks. They’re not all for her though, because really, who needs 3000 pairs of socks? Not Sue. You’d be swamped if you had to sew six thousand socks too! (Note: not all 6000 socks are pictured here, because that would have made me more than swamped. It would have made me crazy to draw that many in such a short time.)



Who is Sue sewing socks for? I’m glad you asked.

Sue sews Sue’s socks, because with that many, at least some of them have to be for her!
Sue sews Moo’s socks, because Moo helps keep the thread from tangling.
Sew sews Lou’s socks. (Lou is the dove on Moo’s back, the one saying, “coo coo.”)
Sue sews Who’s socks, right away, because Who has owl things to do.
Sue sews Foo’s socks (a.k.a. Bunny Foo-Foo).
Sue sews Boo’s socks … not really, ghosts don’t wear socks (or at least Boo doesn’t).

The original sketch had a few more characters, but it got too crowded. Here’s a close up of the bunny:



Bunny Foo-Foo was fun to draw and I love how his socks turned out. Another character that was fun to draw was Moo:



You can tell by the expression on her face that she thinks Sue is crazy for trying to sew six thousand socks, or maybe she is getting sick of having thread wrapped around her horns. Moo has striped socks because I thought they’d be a nice contrast to her spots and I liked how the blue and white stripes looked on her. It’s hard to see, but Lou also has striped socks. They’re blue and yellow.

If someone asked you to sew six thousand socks, would you do it?

I wouldn’t. I leave the sock sewing to Sue!

Horton Hears A Who, and a What, Where, Why, When and How! Dr. Seuss, In Plain Sight, and IF

I’m still playing with pen and ink, except this week I decided to use a brush instead of a pen. All month I’ve been paying tribute to Dr. Seuss (his 108th birthday was March second). This week I drew Horton hearing a Who … and a What, Where, Why, When, and How! He’s holding all those worlds in his trunk. I drew him with a classic pair of sunglasses because the prompt for Illustration Friday this week is shades. Horton with sunglasses made him look like a cop or a government agent, which was a perfect way to introduce the idea that Horton was a U.S Marshall. He put the other worlds under witness protection (from the monkeys). That’s why you didn’t know he heard anyone other than a Who. He’s got a U.S. Marshall badge around his neck, just like Mary wears hers on In Plain Sight (final season starts this weekend).

Oh, The Places You’ll Fish! Dr. Seuss and Yield for IF

I’m drawing a Dr. Seuss inspired image each week in March. I’m trying to tie them in to the Illustration Friday prompt if possible too. Last week was The Cat in the Hat (and his brother). This week is a picture that combines two Dr. Seuss books, Oh, The Places You’ll Go, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and it includes a Yield sign for the IF prompt. I’ve always liked the cover image of Oh, The Places You’ll Go, with the stripes of color, and also the inside picture of the boy at the crossroads. I combined those two for the main image. I added a Yield sign so that the boy would stop to let the fish (from One Fish, Two Fish …) drive by. Here’s the whole image, with a close up/crop below so you can see the characters. I’ve re-named it: Oh, The Places You’ll Fish!



Close up of fish in car, boy, and Yield Sign:



I love to combine ideas and prompts to create pictures. It’s a fun illustration exercise. For me, it’s similar to the writing exercise where you get a list of words and you have to find a way to fit them into a paragraph, or a scene. I think I like it because it forces my mind to make connections between things that I never would have thought of otherwise. Those connections sometimes spin off into more ideas, which create even more ideas, if you’re lucky.

Have you ever combined ideas/prompts for an illustration exercise or a writing exercise?

Dr. Seuss’s birthday, Read Across America, The Cat In The Hat, and his brother, and IF

I’ve been playing around with pen and ink lately. I used to use it quite a bit, but haven’t for years. This week, in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday* (he would have been 108 today), I decided to do an ink drawing of The Cat In The Hat. What you might not know is that The Cat In The Hat has a brother.** I decided to draw him too. Unfortunately for the fish, the brother is more trouble than The Cat In The Hat! It also works for Illustration Friday this week. The prompt is, “intention,” as in, The Cat In The Hat had good intentions, but his brother had other ideas. Poor fish!



This is more of a sketch than finished art. If you look closely, you can probably see the pencil lines I forgot to erase. Also, I used a new ink that for some reason faded to grey in places (won’t be using that ink again). I added the color digitally. Overall, I like the image, even with the ink weirdness.
Are you doing anything to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday? Today is also Read Across America. Go ahead, celebrate both of them!

* If I have time, I’m going to do Dr. Seuss inspired art once and week in March and post it on Friday. Hope I have time; this was fun!

** Dr. Seuss never mentioned a brother for The Cat In The Hat, but since most cats have more than one kitten, I decided he had a brother, or maybe it’s his sister.