Snakes & stuff: Exodus Bible Cartoons

Posted 31 Jan 2014

Wow! It’s the end of January 2014 already!
What have I been doing this month? Well, I’ve been drawing the life of Moses from the book of Exodus, which is commissioned artwork from a US sports ministry organisation. By agreement with them I am also able to sell the work on this website, which is great!
Here’s the pic’s I’ve drawn so far:

Exodus 02 – Birth of Moses – Scene 01 – Nile Basket
This picture took days to draw & colour, due to the vast number of reeds I included. Still, it was worth it in the end. I imagine that Moses’ mother & sister would have picked a spot on the bank of the river Nile which would screen them from anyone looking.
I was very pleased with the way the water Lilies in the foreground came out. I think it adds an extra dimension to have a strong close-up object in a scene.

Exodus 02 – Birth of Moses – Scene 02 – Pharaoh’s daughter
This scene also took a long time to draw, partly due to the reeds & partly due to the complicated figure poses needed. I had to take photo’s of myself wearing a sheet to try to get the features & clothing folds right!
The architecture & stone sculpture of ancient Egypt is very large & impressive, which I hope I have managed to show in this scene.
Notice the 2 Flamingo’s flying overhead… and the crocodile gliding past in the water!

Exodus 02 – Birth of Moses – Scene 04 – Moses playing (Hide-and-seek)
I enjoyed drawing the columns with their Egyptian hieroglyphics in this scene. I also had to research which plants are found in Egypt, so that I could include appropriate species in the foreground garden, in which the young boy Moses is hiding.
I added Dr. Who’s TARDIS onto the 4th column’s Egyptian hieroglyphics, just for fun!

Exodus 02 – Moses murders – Scene 01 – Egyptian slave master
More photo’s of myself in action poses enabled me to draw convincing figures here! The things I do for art!
I didn’t want to make too much of the marks & blood on the Hebrew being whipped, as this scene is intended to be used in sports ministry & will be viewed by young children.
I enjoyed drawing the Egyptian hieroglyphics & even added some non-standard ones, just for fun (see below). There’s also a green Tyrannosaurus rex, behind the Egyptian slave driver’s left hand!

Exodus 02 – Moses murders – Scene 01 – Egyptian slave master – Partial
Note my inclusion of Noah’s ark (bottom left) , a red space capsule (top left) & Dr. Who’s TARDIS (bottom right)!

Follow this link to see these Bible Cartoons on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Famous Bible Story – Exodus 01-02 – Moses in Egypt

Exodus 03 – Burning Bush – Scene 01 – Wonder (fiery version)
I drew two versions of this scene, as a result of adding extra fire in the burning bush & extra shadows across the scene. I couldn’t make up my mind which version I preferred, so I made them both available.
I really enjoyed drawing all the fire & designed it so that it would contrast strongly with the dark mountains behind them. I added the long steamer of fire going up skyward, or perhaps it’s coming down from God in heaven, to show the divine nature of the burning bush that was not consumer in the flames.

Exodus 03 – Burning Bush – Scene 01 – Wonder (shadow version)
This is the second version of this scene, with striking cast shadows across the background rocks.

Exodus 03 – Burning Bush – Scene 02 – God calls to Moses
In the version used by the sports ministry people, the words “Moses, Moses” are coming out of the burning bush.

Exodus 04 – Burning Bush – Scene 04 – Staff
I liked the way the background rocks came out in this scene. The view is looking back towards the rock on which we saw Moses sitting (see Scene 01 – Wonder) & also includes his goats: it’s nice to be able to include objects in two or more scenes that connect those scenes together.

Follow this link to see these Bible Cartoons on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Famous Bible Story – Exodus 03-04 – Moses and the burning bush

There’s more drawings to complete before the end of February. The next one shows Moses’ shepherds staff turning into a fierce looking snake – should be good fun to draw & colour!

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