Crocodactyl - How-to-Draw Page

Here's the second spread in my Monster Safari children's drawing book. On the left side of the page (above) is an illustration of the Crocodactyl, perhaps a distance cousin, second removed, of the Pterodactyl. A Furbuzzle sits atop the winged creature, hanging on for dear life.

After the fact, I realized that my background in the illustration is not easily readable. My wife couldn't figure it out when I asked her this morning. FYI, the view looks down on the cloud-shrouded jungle, with a few holes in the clouds which reveal the jungle canopy below. If this were done in color I think it would read clearly.

On the right side of the spread is the how-to-draw page (above). I squeezed both creatures into the space. Though I teach drawing with basic shapes in my school workshops, I don't do it myself. I just start drawing. So I had to deliberately break the characters down into the steps. I did it by "back-drawing". First I drew the step-one "basic shapes" drawing, then I jumped to the last drawing and filled in all the shading. Then I backed up and filled in the "tweens".

If you would like me to reserve a signed copy of the book for you or your library, feel free to contact me and I'll put your name on my list: bronsmith@gmail.com. Then I will contact you when the book comes out.

Have you seen my Trowbridge Chronicles blog? It's written and illustrated by a Trowbridge Shrew, named Violet Trowbridge, who lived in the Olympic Rain Forest about 200 years ago.