Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Purple Frogs






Today we're moving away from extinct animals and on to an animal is very much alive. For now. Meet the purple frog. 

The purple frog is the only surviving member of its ancient family. These frogs lived alongside the dinosaurs 70 million years ago, but today can only be found on a tiny spot of Western Ghats, India where they spend most of their lives underground. They only emerge during the monsoon season.

As you can see, the purple frog is a tiny, goofy, bloated sack of fat with a tiny head and protruding nose. I fell in love with these silly looking living fossils and so I decided to sketch out a few different ways of drawing them in cartoon form. They just have such a lovable, un-frog-like old man face. I colored my favorites above.

Sadly, the purple frog is one of many amphibians currently at risk of extinction. Their habitat is being destroyed for cultivation. Thankfully, Edge of Existence, to whom I linked above, is currently working on a number of projects both to further research of this remarkable species and to help farmers find ways to co-exist with it.

For more pictures of this awesome frog, check out this gallery.

3 comments:

Flash J said...

Love these little guys. . .your drawings are so expressive!

Unknown said...

lovely colouring on the frogs there and great expressions. my favourite characters from you so far i think.

Unknown said...

As a frog myself, this is an excellent piece. I love the look on the bottom frog, as if he has smelt a nasty fart! Good work Joff