Jenny Parks ~ Illustration

Moving to Tumblr

2011-08-05T00:28:00.000-07:00

I am moving my blog! Please update your links to jennyparks.tumblr.com
It is a work in progress, but I find it easier to work with.

National Park iPhone Apps

2011-04-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

The apps are finally out! I drew 52 out of the hundreds of wildflowers that are included in these iPhone apps made as field guides to the National Parks. So far the Sequoia and Yosemite National Park apps are available. They include not only wildflowers, but also a tree guide and wild animal tracks guide. More info and links can be found here: http://www.mynaturesite.com/2011/04/mynature-national-parks/
Or, you can find them through the iTunes app store.
$1.00 of each purchase goes to various National Park Foundations, which is pretty awesome.

A sample of one of the illustrations I did for these apps. Cypriperdium montanum.

Sketch - Darwin

2011-03-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

While I work on Anchiornis huxleyi (a small, feathered, bird-like dinosaur)... here is a drawing of Darwin. And some finches. I suppose Thomas Huxley would have been more appropriate, but Charles here was more at hand.

Sketch - Tiktaalik roseae

2011-02-26T23:55:00.000-08:00

And now, an interlude in the madness that is Wildflower Mania. Everyone's favorite lobe-finned fish... Tiktaalik Roseae! (For more information on this fascinating "missing link" go here: http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/ )

I would love to do another full piece involving Titaalik, but for now a sketch will do.

To accompany this... I absolutely love this image done by the paleo/surrealist artist Ray Troll, in which Darwin is hugging a Tiktaalik... but who does that mysterious hand belong to??

Sickletop lousewort (Pedicularis racemosa)

2011-02-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

A simple line drawing of a wildflower done as a sample for a possible upcoming job.

I don't do too many botanical illustration, but it is always nice to break away from the Kingdom of animals for a while and do some plants.

This reminded me an awful lot of being back at the Science Illustration program, though then, I had the luxury of having the real plant in front of me.

I may end up doing a whole bunch of these in the near future...

Sickletop lousewort (Pedicularis racemosa)

Out of the Drawer: Channel Island Fox... finished!

2011-02-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

So, some time ago, I started this Channel Island Fox (a small fox related to gray foxes that live solely on these islands off the coast of Southern California) which caused me plenty of frustration, and after many a battle with it, I finally shoved it into a drawer and simply forgot about it for a while...

Well, now it's back! I fixed the background, completely changed what I had planned in the first place, and after doing some research, made the tree an Island Oak, instead of the pine it was beginning to look like at the beginning.

And here it is, completed and entered into the up-coming GNSI show that will be held at the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum, which will be from April 9th to June 4th. I will post more details when they arrive.

(A larger version can be seen here at my deviantart page.)

Figure Drawing - Working the Line

2010-04-23T22:34:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I missed plenty of figure drawing sessions this semester, but the last couple I went to I thoroughly enjoyed and ultimately liked the results (and not only because of the company). Here are a few from the last session, a great model with some great poses. I have often felt drawing people to be the bane of my existence (okay, slight exaggeration), but I have greatly improved in this area over the years, and this is largely due to drawing from models. Anyway, enough banter, onto the drawings:

So what might become obvious, is I have come to favor using that lovely non-photo blue before using a regular HB or 2B pencil. I think it lends nicely to my tendency to draw a certain part of the drawing over and over before I get it the way I want it.

This pose was 20 min. and I suppose I had wished I could have had a bit more time on it. But it was in this pose I was getting a hang of getting a clean line while capturing the form of the body.

I think this one is my favorite of the four. Not only for the pose, but I felt like I was getting the lines just where I wanted them. This was also 20 min. and yet again wish I could have finished it. I wanted to get those feet in there!

The last pose was less dynamic, but the added clothing presented an interesting challenge. In the end, quite pleased with how it came out. You'll notice that while I shaded in some small parts of this sketch, with all these drawings I wasn't concerning myself so much with shadow and light, and more with the outline, form and musculature. When I am able to do more figure drawing, I will likely experiment more with shadowing.

Getting Back into the Swing of things

2010-04-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

Seeing as it was a nice day, I was inspired to go outside and work on my urban landscape skills. Up near the Diamond Heights area is a nice view I pass by all the time but never really stopped at.

A nice moment in the sun.

Weekly Sketches - Back log

2009-05-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

This is, I know, a very late update, due mostly to a lack of internet and a scanner, so I'm throwing up a bunch of sketches from the last few weeks. This includes some figure drawings and some more sketches from the Academy of Sciences.
Above, the lovely alligators, fish, and other specimens of the Ca Academy of Sciences. Below, just a sampling of some of the figure drawings from the figure drawing Fridays.

Weekly Sketch - Black Bear and Blackberry concepts

2009-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Another show coming up later this year is strictly for botanical illustration, and while I usually don't do many plants, I thought I'd put something together anyway. Animals are allowed so long as the focus is on the plant, so I have schemed up doing a piece with the California Blackberry, Rubus ursinus (they must be native Californian plants), with a black bear, Ursus americanus, somewhere in there, munching away. These are just a couple sketches to get the idea juices flowing. I might do more of a close up of the bear and show a lot more of the plant itself.

In Progress - Channel Island Fox

2009-04-17T21:52:00.001-07:00

For a new Guild of Natural Science Illustrators show coming up, I've decided to do a few new pieces. I took some pretty good reference yesterday of the Channel Island Fox at Coyote Point, so I thought I'd do something with him.

I used two pictures combined for reference. I liked the pose of the first one, but I liked the head of the second. I put them together with Photoshop and created this sketch:

I transferred the image with transfer paper to a piece of Masonite board with colored paper pasted to it with matte medium, (color paper is something I like to use with gouache, I could do a step by step on here some time on how I put it on the board so it doesn't warp during painting, but it is fairly simple to do).

I took pictures pretty late into painting, so I have a lot done already. The way I work on this surface is a process of starting with lights, and alternating between that and adding in darks and colors. I think I prefer starting with lights because it gives me a better sense of the shape and form. The dark paper is great because you can let a lot of it show through. Idealy, I probably would have wanted a slightly lighter paper for this subject, considering Island foxes are diurnal as opposed to nocternal (they are awake during the day), but I had this board prepared already so I thought I'd just go for it and see how it goes. So this is all I have so far, and I'll send updates on it as I go along.

Weekly Sketch - Figure Drawing

2009-04-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so a bit of a late update, but an update none the less. I go to a free figure drawing class on Fridays, and these are from a few weeks ago. I had been doing nothing but furry animals for a while, I figured I need to brush up on my... human animal skills.

Weekly Sketch - Ammut the Devourer

2009-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Another small update. Veering a little away from purely scientific drawing, I sometimes like to also draw mythological and fantastical animals.

This here is a creature, or demoness, from Egyptian mythology named Ammut. She (yes, it was female, don't let the mane fool you) was considered the demoness of punishment, . Ever wonder what happened to those hearts he would weigh against a feather that ended up too heavy and therefore not worthy for the afterlife? That's right, lunch for dear Ammut. Hence the title of "Devourer" at the end of her name.

Depictions can vary, but she is described on an Egyptian papyrus as having "the fore-part of a crocodile; her hind-quarters are those of a hippopotamus; her middle part [is that] of a lion." Though, in the depictions I have seen, she has spots, which means they meant something like a leopard, though to me, it looked like a cheetah, so that is what I used. I do have a lot of fun with these sorts of things.

Weekly Sketch - Fence Lizard

2009-03-23T23:27:00.001-07:00

Another quick sketch update. Just your typical fence lizard, after a request I got. I liked how it looked as fading into the rough sketch, so I left it that way.

Field Sketching Trip - California Academy of Sciences

2009-03-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

The California Academy of Sciences is one of the most amazing places for those fascinated with Natural History. With a large collection of preserved specimens and live animals, it is also the perfect place to sketch and research. I have been in love with the place ever since I was a kid, and though they changed things around quite a bit since they got their new building, it is still as awesome as ever. I am only sad they got rid of their dinosaur section.

Can you tell which sketches were done from live animals and which ones were from specimens? I'm sure some of them are obvious... There are certain animals that are the perfect little models. I will definitely be going back in the near future.

Weekly Sketch - Snow Leopard

2009-03-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

Nothing too special about this weeks sketch. A snow leopard, Panthera uncia.

I will add in one little interesting tidbit about snow leopards, though. They can't roar like most other big cats. They can make other sounds, but no big booming roars. I always find the different adaptations and changes in similar species very interesting, makes me wonder why or how they evolved these peculiarities, whether it was something about the environment, changes in predators or prey... I like geeking out about this stuff. :B

Field Sketching Trip - SF Zoo

2009-03-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

Lions, tigers and... capibaras?

I think drawing at the zoo tends to reveal which animals are the laziest... That's my theory anyway. I end up with a lot of bits and pieces and animals, usually very quick gesture sketches before they get up and stretch and I have to move on. On rare occasions I catch one that is holding still long enough to get more than just a foot or a tail.

That capibara was sitting nice and still for a long time... there was this woman next to me who kept saying "it looks like a giant hamster!" Though, they look more like giant guinea pigs to me...

I also took plenty of photos while I was there, with my trusty Nikon D40. Here are just a few of my favorite shots.

Weekly Sketch - Paws

2009-03-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Just a small update this week. I drew two different kind of paws, the left is a raccoon (inner left front arm) and the right is a coyote (outer left front arm). I like looking at the differences in the two, and how the raccoon has a more hand-like structure in order to grasp things with the front paws.

I think one of the reasons I like drawing mammals so much, is their paws, I just find them so fun.

A more effective comparison would be to have them be the same leg from the same view, but I think here the differences are still pretty obvious.

Weekly Sketch - Chimpanzee... Tutorial?

2009-03-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

This sketch was done from reference taken at the good ol' SF Zoo, your common Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes (and no, I didn't chose this in light of recent news. Purely coincidental, I swear.)

Because I was curious to try this, I made a short little animation showing my process as I sketched up this guy. That can be seen here: Chimp Sketch

But to better explain this process, I separated out the sketches here. I suppose this is sort of a tutorial... but it is more about how I worked it out. Whether or not it proves useful to anyone is a mystery to me.

So, I start with basic shapes, which you can call a gesture drawing, usually loose circles and lines that give me an idea of the positioning of the head and face, shoulder and so on, in respect to one another.

Thinking still in shapes, I define where other features will be, like the ridge of the brow, the nose, the lips and the ear.

Once I have proportions looking alright, I then start to go in with a little finer detail, like outlining the eyes, putting more definition into the face and ear, as well as starting to mark out the edges of the fur.

From there it is a process of further detail, and figuring out how the fur lays, where folds and wrinkles of the skin are, and really defining the facial features.

At this point I like to start to put in some darks and shading to get an idea of form and light. More of the fur strokes are added in as well.

Since this is a simple sketch, and not to be a finished drawing, I didn't try to achieve any heightened reality through too much more detail in shadowing and definition. I just finished up by adding in some darker darks, and those small finishing touches that can be fun to do, like the bit of dark under the brows and little wrinkles on the muzzle.

So that's it. A little more than just a sketch this time, but I figured, what the hell?

Weekly Sketch - Mesonyx

2009-02-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

Every week, I thought I would put up something from my sketchbook.

This week, I chose a prehistoric mammal I have been trying to get an accurate rendition of called Mesonyx sp. from the Early Eocene period. There are two species, Mesonyx obtusidens and Mesonyx lanius, but I haven't been able to find the specific differences. If anyone knows I would love to find out.

It had teeth similar to a dog's and was the size of wolves, but instead of claws, it had hooves on the end of it's toes which puts it more closely related to modern hoofed mammals such as deer or sheep, and the skull structure indicates it was probably a distant ancestor of whales and dolphins. It is in the same Order (Mesonychia) as Andrewsarchus, which is a better known hoofed, whale ancestor. I find it rather amusing how popular Andrewsarchus has become, and how many more images you can find of it than Mesonyx, when the only specimen they have of the former is a skull! They only hypothesize that it had hooves like other Mesonychids because it had a similar skull structure to them.

My first attempt at this creature was a simple acrylic study, and is kind of a boring side view, but I kind of like the coloring. I may end up turning the above sketch into a finished painting, if I ever feel like it.

Coyote Point Exhibit Opening - How did it go, you say?

2009-02-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you to all of you who showed up. I had a lot of fun and was grateful for your support. I do wish more people had come, as we had tons and tons of left over food, but it was a good time none the less.

In the spirit of sharing, I have put together a little virtual gallery for those who couldn't make it.

(<-- Here I am showing off my little bio. Yes, I am a dork.) The FOOD.

I don't know why I didn't get a better view of those tiny paintings, but they are portraits of some of the animals at coyote point.

Black-crowned Night Herons

Coyote (Sorry about the glare, the rest were taken at an angle to reduce that)

Ringtail

Elephant seals in a feeding frenzy.

Microhabitat... (it's all about the worm...)

Western spotted skunk

Insects that aid in the decomposition process

Ravens

A.. duck feather.

Sierra Nevada food web
The effects of introduced trout to the Sierra Nevada lakes

California Gull

Sierra Bighorn Sheep

Sonoma Tree Vole

Raccoon skull, dorsal view

Some sketches
Coyote skull and red tail hawk

More sketches

And there you have it. Oh, and thanks to those who helped pack up food after it was over. Does anybody want left overs? .... Anybody?

An introduction

2009-02-18T21:23:00.000-08:00

I thought it only appropriate to begin this blog with information on my upcoming art show opening at the Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo, which is an awesome little museum by the way, with a lot of live, native wildlife. A great place to sketch for those who are in the area. I had that in mind when selecting works to hang there, and chose mostly CA animals.

The exhibit is up now and will be up until April 19th or so. But I am having an opening on the 20th (this Friday). All are welcome to attend and enjoy free food and drink.

The basics:

Date:	Friday, February 20, 2009
Time:	5:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:	Coyote Point Museum
Street:	1651 Coyote Point Drive
City/Town:	San Mateo, CA

More info. on the museum and directions can be found at www.coyoteptmuseum.org.

Below is what the space I hung my pieces in looks like (before I put my own art up).

It's very... purple.