Kevenn T. Smith 4/10/22 Kevenn T. Smith 4/10/22

Super Friends in Oz by Kevenn T. Smith

I participated in my comic book shop's annual auction to raise money for the Cleveland Food Bank. One person won an exclusive edition of my Super Friends in Oz piece that I created for the auction. The illustration is an homage to the Super Friends episode "The Planet of Oz," where Mr. Mxyzsptlk sends a tornado to transport Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman inside of the Hall of Justice to the planet of Oz. Upon arrival, he transforms them into versions of characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book. The three of them have to find their way through many encounters on the planet until they reach "The Wizard" and of course manage to trick Mr. Mxyzsptlk into saying his name backwards, thus forcing him to set everything right.

As an homage, I didn't want to try to create something that looked like an animation cell from the episode. I wanted to inject my own style into it, three-dimensionalize the visuals, and offer more nods to the 1939 MGM musical of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. That meant adding a "Dorothy" to the piece, and while Jayna of the Wonder Twins actually did appear in the original episode, I decided to use Wendy Harris, a character who regularly appeared in only the first season of the Super Friends show. I thought that Wendy's color scheme and design would better meld with Dorothy's and look better alongside the other characters in the piece. And while I'm a HUGE fan of the Oz books, the makers of the movie musical were not wrong when they decided that ruby slippers would "pop" more against the Yellow Brick Road compared to silver slippers that were in the book.

Prints of this piece are available directly from me. Fill out the "Contact Me" form at the left of this page to contact me regarding a print and inquire about pricing.
"Super Friends in Oz" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©2022 Kevenn T. Smith

Kevenn T. Smith 2/10/20 Kevenn T. Smith 2/10/20

Sleigh Ride in Oz by Kevenn T. Smith

It's been a while since I've done artwork involving any of the Oz characters, and this was the perfect time to get back to them. I wanted to create a winter scene with Oz characters because I send out postcards every winter to people on my mailing list - because I can never get it together to send out cards at Christmas time. This way, my cards are a nice bonus at the beginning of the year, and they don't get lost amongst all the other cards people are receiving around the Holidays.

This piece depicts the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and Scraps the Patchwork Girl in a royal sled racing through a snowy section of the northern Gilliken Country of Oz. You don't see him, but I imagine that the sled is pulled by the Sawhorse. You can see his hoofprints in the snow, however.

I'm currently working on my own Oz book, and I wanted to begin to find the way that I am going to portray these characters visually in it. I also wanted the art to convey how I envision them not only visually, but something about each of the characters' personalities and essences. My goal is for the book to be the kind of Oz book that I would have loved to read as a boy, that respects the world of Oz as crafted by L. Frank Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson, whose Oz books I grew up reading, but also has a modern feel and interpretation. I want the book to feel like a balance of utmost respect for the past, but also a pulse on the present. It has been my dream since I was a young boy to make an Oz book. I used to draw up covers for new titles of books that I'd like to see. However, I'd never really had a whole story inside me that I felt that I needed to tell. Until now. Writing a GOOD Oz book is very hard. Writing the kind of Oz book that I like to see, one that mostly takes place in the actual Land of Oz, and making that book GOOD is even harder. Especially if you're trying to honor what has come before, yet also tell a story that has conflict and discovery. I hope readers will feel that my story is a GOOD Oz story, and enjoy the tale as well as the illustrations that I plan on accompanying that story. This will obviously be a labor or love and time, but hopefully the book will be ready to be sent off into the world in the next two years or so. #LoftyGoals

In the meantime, please enjoy this latest illustration. It is available at my Red Bubble store as prints, posters, pillows, ipad cases & skins, laptop cases & skins, mug, tote bags, drawstring bags, zipper pouches, journals and notebooks. Just click on the picture to go there.
"Sleigh Ride in Oz" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2020

This piece is also available in a trimmed format as postcards and greetings cards at my Red Bubble store.

Kevenn T. Smith 11/16/10 Kevenn T. Smith 11/16/10

Oz Artwork Merchandise by Kevenn T. Smith

Kevenn T. Smith 6/22/09 Kevenn T. Smith 6/22/09

Singular Sensation: The Cowardly Lion

This Singular Sensation entry focuses on the Cowardly Lion illustration that I did for the original "contact Me: page of this site. I wanted to present him bigger here than he appears on that page. Everyone knows the Cowardly Lion, but most people are used to thinking of the Cowardly Lion in terms of a person dressed up in a costume, like Burt Lahr in the MGM movie. However, in the books, the Cowardly Lion is a real lion who talks, like all of the animals in Oz do.

I think that when the lion is presented as an actual large lion who acts cowardly, as opposed to a person in a costume, the visuals get to be more interesting and contradictory to the behavior. For this interpretation of the Cowardly Lion, I wanted to make him more personal. I made his eyes bigger than an actual lion's eyes, while keeping the rest of the lion's anatomical proportions intact. Another thing about the eyes, were that I based them on my dog, Humphrey. He's like my own personal Cowardly Lion, who is all bark, but when someone actually stands up to him (like a cat), he runs away crying.

The bows are things that John R. Neill drew on the Cowardly Lion when he originally illustrated the Oz books. I think they're great touches that serve to visually reinforce the contrasts going on with the cowardliness and the powerful frame of a lion. Michael Herring usually painted the bows light blue in the covers that he did for the Del Rey paperback editions of the Oz books, and those were the printings of the books that I grew up with, so I tend to try to give little nods to him and Neill when I illustrate Oz characters.

Cowardly Lion ©Kevenn T. Smith 2009

Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils, and Photoshop.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2011

Now available along with The Hungry Tiger on a t-shirt at RedBubble.com!