A penguin in snow...

I'm developing this piece for "The Virgin Show" - originally titled, "Most Zombie Babies Don't Have Sex" I've gone a bit less controversial by doing a piece where a cute little penguin is walking through freshly fallen snow (virgin snow). My original piece (the one with the dead babies...) didn't seem to have as many people excited by it (but maybe I was just telling the wrong people...) so I started over and went back to what I do best - drawing penguins. I did several drawings followed by quick experiments on watercolor paper:

four thumbnails

I ended up liking the more cartoony one (where the penguin is kind of dancing in the foreground. I then did a couple of drawings and ended up liking one where the penguin is lifting his foot covered in snow. What follows is based on my illustrator cleanup, which I then printed out and (with graphite) transfered over to watercolor paper. This is about the size you see here, and it was to see what I could do with this - but once again, it's a thumbnail as I work out how I want my final piece to look:

Enjoying his last moments in the freshly fallen snow before being eaten by a rather large seal

Little Blue Penguin

This is based on the littlest of all the types of penguins - For some reason, maybe because I did such a closeup of it - it looks huge! But it's called the fairy penguin (or, a bit less feminine - the little blue penguin) because of how tiny and dainty it is. In any case - I painted it...I've got nothing technical to add, as I've already described everything I do - and now it's just up to me to do it!

The Little Blue Penguin

Pencil and Watercolor

Finished Adelie Penguin...

I finished this over the weekend - just added a gradient background...

Adelie Penguin

Pencil and Watercolor