Inktober 2018 Day 20 "Breakable"

Day 20 of Inktober, prompt word "Breakable." I previously wrote about Inktober here. This is an edited version, but I'm posting these daily on my Instagram, @St.Rhinoceros:

Day 20 of Inktober 2018, prompt word "Breakable." Dip pen and ink. By Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros. [Image description: black and white ink drawing of a woman walking on a beach. A more detailed rectangular section in the upper center of the page shows a woman in a sweatshirt and jeans walking near the waves viewed from far away. A piece of driftwood and seaweed sits half buried in the sand. Beyond the frame of that rectangular section is a series of five overlapping contour line drawings of a nude woman walking, looking up and looking down and ahead, walking forward and, with perspective, moving diagonally from upper left to lower right toward the viewer. The larger version of the driftwood also makes an overlapping appearance beyond the rectangular section. The horizon line and edge of the waves extends also beyond the section forming a triangular shape because of perspective. The overall style is realistic, not cartoony.]

Inktober 2018 Day 7 "Exhausted"

Day 7 of Inktober, prompt word "Exhuasted." I previously wrote about Inktober here. This is an edited version, but I'm posting these daily on my Instagram, @St.Rhinoceros:

Day 7 of Inktober 2018, prompt word "Exhausted." I was happy with the previous two drawings, but I felt my actual drawing was too uptight. So for this one I drew laundry because it doesn't need to be exact or precise like a human figure, and tried to just have fun with markmaking. I'm especially happy with the socks on the top and the hem of the jeans on the bottom. By Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros. Dip pen and ink. [Image description: black and white line drawing of a teetering pile of folded laundry. Some of it is loose contour drawing, some is a variety of markmaking and patterns.]

Coloring Book

For the last several months I've been collaborating with my friend Anna Guengerich, who works in the Anthropology Department at Vanderbilt University. Many people are familiar with the ancient Chachapoya of the Andes because of their stunning, gravity-defying tombs built into cliffs above the clouds. Less well known are their daily lives, which Anna's archaeological team has recently uncovered in rural Peru. It turns out their houses were as surprising as their tombs, and the weavings that survive are extremely impressive. The Chachapoya were eventually conquered by the Incan Empire, like many other cultures of the Andes.

Where the Chachapoya once lived, today the Museo Leymebamba houses their artifacts, reconstructed buildings, and the famous huddled mummies. Unfortunately looting of the ancient sites in the area is a major problem. Adventure tourists and amateur archeologists still hunt for new sites and rediscover existing sites, often with the help of unofficial local tourguides. Even when the participants remain respectful of the discoveries, locals in a desperate economy often follow in their wake and loot the items to sell.

Anna and I have been collaborating on a coloring book that the Museo Leymebamba and local educators will use not only to share what Anna and her team have discovered, but also to educate kids about the importance of protecting ancient artifacts and housing them safely. Anna wrote the story, then gave me a crash course in the daily life of the Chachapoya so I could accurately illustrate it. I really enjoyed figuring out how to convey a world where it's normal to grill up a guinea pig, footrace barefoot in the cold, and for your grandma to heal you with magic when you're sick.

The book hasn't yet gone to press, but I'm sharing a frame here. The main character's dad has just gotten a job as a guard at the Museo Leymebamba, and she's sitting at the edge of a lake wondering what's so special about the artifacts, and who the Chachapoya were. Little does she know it's a magical time-traveling lake....

A frame from a coloring book about the ancient Chachapoya, written by Anna Guengerich and illustrated by Ciana Pullen.

If you'd like to know more about the book, feel free to contact me.

Testing New Pen Nibs on a Burberry Ad

Sketch of a Burberry ad, by Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros

Sketch of a bus

I ran across this old sketch recently that I did in a bus on the way to UW in Seattle.