I’m working out ideas for the Baren Forum Fairy Tale Print Exchange. I found an Indian Fairy Tale on the Web entitled The Talkative Tortoise and thought the story might make an intriguing image for a print. The tortoise is told by his duck friends to hang on to a stick and they will take him to the king’s palace, but they warn him that he must not talk or he will let go of the stick and well, you can imagine. Here is what I have so far.

Talkative Tortoise Sketch

I used many reference photos and even a realistic toy tortoise to help get the tortoise right. I’m not sure if this is the final image that I will work with or not. I need to let it percolate for a few days.