APE-ril: Thade

APE-ril is over!!!!!!

Oh my GOD!  I did it!   30 apes in 30 days!  Sure, 7 were today... but still... I did it!  Yay!

Anywho, above is a really quick and crude sketch/digital coloring of Thade.  Tim Roth's character from Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.  I wish I hadn't had to cram so many monkeys into the last days, cuz this one could have been tons better.  Needless to say, I learned how to better prioritize my time... and hopefully will apply that to future artistic projects!

APE-ril: Dr. Zais

Dr. Zaius made the list of apes for APE-ril, because I decided to pick 2 from each era of Apes... the classic Apes, and the Tim Burton apes.  I did Cornelius earlier this month, so my other "classic" PotA character had to be Dr. Zaius.  This was easy to pick because... he's different.

Seriously, go watch the original Planet of the Apes.  Almost every other ape in that film looks a like, like they were made from a cookie cutter.  Dr. Zaius... different.  More of an orangutan, when the rest were... gorilla?   They're all black, he's orange.  He stands out.  So since he stood out, he made for a more eclectic choice in drawing.  So I drew him.  True story.

On a side note, my art buddy and friend, Stephen Wittmaak also drew up a Dr. Zaius yesterday, so for the sake of comparison, you can check his out right here.

APE-ril: Cornelius

Cornelius sure does look angry.... maybe that's because the "classic" Planet of the Apes franchise gets all the love for Charlton Heston.  Yet it was Cornelius, or more importantly, Roddy McDowall's performance of Cornelius (and later Caesar) that really carried that series along for as long as it did (and make it viable remake fodder, i.e., Tim Burton's "re-imagining" and the upcoming "Rise" with James Franco).  If not for Cornelius and Mr. McDowall, the Apes franchise would likely be much smaller and not what we remember.

As for the art, much like the Bubbles post 2 days ago, this was drawn as a pencil sketch first, and then some touch ups here and there in Photoshop. The difference is bubbles I went straight black and white, this one I went with some color (albeit, muted).  But I like the watercolor type feel to it, and still retain it's sketchyness.

APE-ril: Ari

APE-ril continues with Ari.

You don't remember Ari?  She was the human supporter in the Tim Burton "re-imagining" of Planet of the Apes?  No?  You don't remember Marky-Mark fighting monkeys?  No?

Okay, I kid.  But it is APE-ril, and how can I do a month dedicated to APES and not acknowledge the PLANET?  There are 4 apes from the films who made my list, 2 from the original Planet, and 2 from the remake.  As I'm going alphabetically, Ari came up first.

It was interesting, cuz they are apes, but really they're humans in make up... so it became difficult to draw it ape'ish, because it kept looking too human.  This will be a fun challenge going towards the other 3 I have planned.  We shall see.

Fun fact, it was on Burton's remake that he met Helena Bonham Carter, his main squeeze ever since...  what kinda freaky stuff is he into that monkey girl got his engine going?