I finished my first raccoon study for the children's story I am illustrating this year with my friend Tom. Martin may not end up being named Martin, but considering that raccoon is the protagonist of the story, I figured I may as well give him a working name.
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| Did You Disguise Yourself To Hide From Yourself?, 2012 |
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This piece developed from raccoon's totem significance, being the master of dexterity and disguise, and what that may mean for a young one struggling to develop its own identity in the midst of developing into a transformation master. How can you know who you are if you are constantly changing yourself to look and act like something else? It's a common question with human adolescents, too, and one thing that makes the story timely.
In this illustration, raccoon has just discovered that he has disguised himself as fox, though because he doesn't yet quite understand his transformative powers, he is shocked when he sees fox staring back at him from the water. He then sees us staring at him, and he looks back, either to ask us what we know, or to tell us to go away out of embarrassment. Maybe both.
(Unfortunately, my scanner is on the small side, and has cut off the right and left edges of the piece.)
That looks pretty great, Nicolette, I'd like to see more.
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