Grass Dancer Boy

September 18, 2024September 19, 2024Leave a comment

I recently completed a commission for an illustration of a little indigenous boy performing as a grass dancer. The client advised me on what details to include to make him look authentic, since she is indigenous and I am not. She wanted it to match that illustration I made a few years ago of a girl in a jingle dress.

A line drawing of an indigenous boy performing as a grass dancer. His traditional regalia has a bear motif and V-shaped stripes.

Number 144 of 150

October 21, 2023October 25, 2023Leave a comment

Continuing with our subset of illustrations of historical figures for Learning A-Z, this one is an illustration of Maria Tallchief, one of America’s first prima ballerinas and an Indigenous American. She was best known for her performance dancing the lead in “The Firebird” in 1949. More information about her can be found here.

The client wanted her pictured in something similar to her costume in “The Firebird”. But they didn’t want her in exactly that costume for copyright reasons. So, this costume is intentionally simpler than the iconic costume, but in the same color. Because all the images in this project were a standard height (the art itself, not the characters) I did have a bit of a problem with those feathers. They really should have been standing straight up, but that would have caused some problems if I had. Either I’d have had to make this one image taller than the standard size, which would throw off the layout, or I’d have to make this one character in a smaller scale than the rest of the characters, or I could make shorter feathers. When given these choices, the client decided to let the feathers hang sideways like this.

Maria Tallchief

Number 142 of 150

October 16, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

Here’s an illustration of a police officer in uniform. This is the last illustration for the set of images depicting people in recognizable professions. This was made as part of a larger commission for the children’s educational publisher Learning A-Z.

One detail when drawing police for the children’s market is that you want to be careful about depicting guns. This might sound like a silly concern to have, but children’s publishing tends to be very sensitive about showing weapons. Particularly for the younger age ranges. Normally you just wouldn’t draw guns at all, but police in America are pretty much always armed. It would be weird to show them with an empty belt. It just wouldn’t quite look like a cop. But you also don’t want to show the weapon too blatantly for your audience. To solve this problem, I like to draw police officers turned slightly away from the viewer so that their hip holster is on the far side, either partially or completely hidden from view. In this case, she’s facing the viewer almost full-on, but her hand position obscures those blocky items on her belt. Undoubtedly one of those is her firearm, but it’s not too obvious.

A Police Officer

Number 60 of 150

April 21, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

This old guy’s in western wear from his boots to his bolo tie.

A cartoon illustration of an elderly Indigenous American man. He's standing with one hand on his hip and one raised in a gesture. He's smiling. His long gray hair is worn loose. He's wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a pink button-up shirt, and a turquois and silver bolo tie.

Number 59 of 150

April 19, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

Here’s an old lady in a ribbon skirt with bead earrings.

A cartoon illustration of an elderly Indigenous American woman. She's standing, waving, and smiling. She is wearing a traditional ribbon skirt, low heels, and a red blouse. She has a shell bead necklace and beaded earrings. Her long gray hair is in two braids.

Number 58 of 150

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023Leave a comment

More beaded jewelry. I hope we didn’t overdo that detail. We may have.

A cartoon illustration of a middle-aged Indigenous American man. He's standing with one hand up as if gesturing as he speaks. He's wearing a black sweatshirt, khaki pants, and black sneakers. He has a beaded necklace and his long, black hair is in a low braid. He has a larger body type.

Number 57 of 150

April 15, 2023April 17, 2023Leave a comment

Our first adult. Beaded jewelry is fun to draw. So was the pattern on her sweater. The pose the client initially requested had her looking down at her wristwatch. Then they changed their mind and wanted her waving.

A cartoon illustration of a middle-aged Indigenous American woman. She is standing and waving. She is wearing glasses and beaded earrings. She has jeans, cowboy boots, a t-shirt, and a white, red, and blue patterned cardigan. Her black hair falls to just past her shoulders and is slightly wavy.

Number 56 of 150

April 13, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

The last child for this batch, with groovy tie-dye.

A cartoon illustration of an Indigenous child aged 10-12. They are walking towards the left while waving. They have their long, black hair in two braids and their smile shows a slight gap between their two front teeth. They are wearing jeans, red sneakers, and a pink tie-dyed t-shirt with a tribal-style bear paw print.

Number 55 of 150

April 11, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

A boy with longer, shaggy hair. The hair reference the client gave me for this one was a picture of D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill in Reservation dogs.

I’m not really sure why, but some of the characters in this project were supposed to be drawn with them holding up their hand(s) as if holding something. This was a collaborative project, with different artists handing different parts, so that’s not too weird. But I was never told what they were to be holding. Any guesses?