Monday, January 23, 2012

CHICAGO Mascots

Just looking through some old photos and forgot about this piece I was commissioned to do as a Christmas gift last year. After a show where my Minnesotan Mascots piece was seen I was asked to create a shadow box version of the sports mascots from the Chicago teams.
There are loads of Chicagoites (Chicagonites? Chicagonians?) in Minnesota!!

From top left to bottom right: Staley Da Bear from Chicago Bears (American Football), Chicago Cubs Player* (Baseball)Tommy Hawk of Chicago Black Hawks (Ice Hockey), Benny the Bull from the Chicago Bulls (Basketball), South Paw from the Chicago White Sox (Baseball), Chicago Cubs Logo bear** (Baseball).

*According to Wikipedia: The official Cub mascot is a young bear cub (like the little blue guy I added at the front), which has gone through various transformations through the years. The Cubs have no official physical mascot, though a man in a 'polar bear' looking outfit, called "The Beeman" (or Bearman, B-man), which was not very popular with the fans, was employed by the club briefly in the early 1990s.

**Apparently a mascot by the name of Billy Cub wants to step up and be the official mascot for the Cubs and break the Curse of the Billy Goat put onto the team in 1945. Unfortunately he is not allowed into the Wrigley Stadium due to "no costume" policy.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Illustration Friday - GROUNDED

A version of this picture has been swimming (fluttering? What do moths do? That!) around with me for a while. I am actually planning on a larger painted piece but thought IF's theme this week of GROUNDED was a good chance to work on some character sketches.