The Tortoise and the Eagle

Artist: Stephanie Smith
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Card: US$3.99
Print: from US$17.10

The Tortoise and the Eagle

From Aesop’s Fables:

A Tortoise, dissatisfied with lowly crawling on the ground, envied the birds who could soar high into the clouds whenever they desired. One day, he offered an Eagle all the treasures in the ocean if she would only teach him how to fly. The Eagle declined the offer at first, but the Tortoise kept insisting and pleading. “Fine, I will teach you to fly,” siad the Eagle and, taking him up in her talons carried him high into the sky. As she let go of him, she said, “Now, spread your legs and fly!” But before the Tortoise could say one word in response, he plunged straight down, hit a rock, and was dashed to pieces.

Moral: Demand your own way, demand your own ruin.

Ink drawing with digital color, 2006, part of a series

This image is one of many story images of birds and animals featured in my calendar Legendary Tales: Myths and Legends

The Tortoise and the Eagle belongs to the following groups:

* Painted Nature *, Animal Fantasy & Whimsy, Animal Kingdom, Birds and Creatures of Flight, Birds Of Prey (3 per day), Bits and Pieces , Eat Sleep Draw, Finks of Inks, International Superheroes of Drawing, Illustration and World Domination, Myths, Legends and Fairytales and The Art of Books Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Framed Prints and Posters

The Tortoise and the Eagle by Stephanie Smith

mimi yoon

you do amazing work…
Stephanie Smith replied

thank you so much, mimi!
Catherine Howell

Another amazing work, Stephanie:)
AnitaInverarity

BEAUTIFUL !! Many congrats on your well deserved Home Page Feature too :))))))) xx
Helena Babic

This is great… full of tension..i love the perspective, makes it so much more interesting!
Stephanie Smith replied

Thank you Helena… it’s so fun playing with perspective (but it was no easy task finding appropriate reference images for that tortoise, lol!)
cdcantrell

Thats cool Stephanie
Donna Adamski

3/31/09
Stephanie Smith replied

Thanks, Donna! Always a great honor!
linskudd

Nice art work.
Stephanie Smith replied

Thank you!
Colin Cartwright

Superb image, Melanie. Looks like a children’s book illustration.
Did you use graphics’s tablet and pen?
Stephanie Smith replied

Thanks Colin! (and no worries about the name thing, lol!)

The original artwork was drawn with Micron ink pens on good-old-fashioned bristol paper, but the coloring was added in Photoshop with my good not-so-old tablet and pen. I like both mediums, but this level of detail in the linework is much quicker for me to do on paper… and easier on my arm too. Now, maybe that would be different if I had one of those fancy Cintiq tablets with the built-in screen…. :)
Colin Cartwright

oops, Stephanie.
Colin Cartwright

I Know! The mouse is a very clumsy device for painting. That’s why I do mine the ancient way, on paper with pencil, before I watercolour paint them!

Although, I’m getting a tablet and pen, for a photoshop course, I will be doing at an evening class.
Stephanie Smith replied

I’m spoiled by the “undo” option, and am a little terrified of “ruining” the ink drawings I spent so much time on, so I’ve been using the computer to add color for a while. I seemed to have lost the patience to try making watercolors like yours, except for occasional fun!

A tablet is the way to go for photoshop, I couldn’t draw anything in it without one, but it takes a bit of practice to get used to and the “feel” is never quite the same as real paper. And of course, nothing behaves the way real liquid media does anyway (although the Painter software comes pretty close) Have fun with your class!
AnitaInverarity

Wonderful Work x
Stephanie Smith replied

Thanks so much, Anita!
rob2

I love it ! How to get astonishment on the tortoise face with out it look cartoon.Great work.
Stephanie Smith replied

Thanks Rob, that’s what I was trying for!
CherrieB

Wow, i love the perspective
solareclips~Ju...
Stephanie Smith replied

thanks, Julie!
NadiaTurner

Awww poor little guy!
Stephanie Smith replied

I know, I felt bad for him too… even though he was asking for it! ;)
(a lot of the fables have unpleasant endings… I have a few others I need to upload and some of them are just as bad)