ARTIST FEATURE- Chris Panda

Ariel - The Little Mermaid

Chris Panda is a french illustrator and Comic artist who is perhaps most famous for his X-rays of popular characters that we know and love.

This kind of artwork adds an interesting though slightly unsettling new insight into the cartoons that some of us have grown up with.

In order to create pieces like this you must have a sound knowledge of human and even animal anatomy. From there you can interpret how the bones would lie to fit the characters body shape. 

I tried to use this approach when I drew my mermaid character and her ribs. (I ended up not actually having them on show but it was an interesting route to take and I would definitely try it again.)

Donald Duck

Does a beak count as a bone? I can't quite tell from this, his skull blends into his bill!

Jessica Rabbit

The anatomy doesn't lie…but no one could survive with a waist that tiny! 

Popeye

His broad torso has a large set of ribs and his trademark large forearms have enlarged bones in them while his leg bones are short and his feet are turned out.

Here are the foundations of the ribcage, spine and pelvis.

I then began to colour from a dark beige up to white 

Here you can see the skin layer added on top.

Chris Panda really influenced my project and it was interesting to see another artists perspective of a mermaids anatomy.

It seems the style of his pictures could be achieved through the use of a programme like Illustrator where you can make really fluid line art and adjust it however you want with it's pointer tools.

All you would need is a sketch of a well known character in it's signature pose and you could even live trace it then add the skeleton underneath in a different colour.

It's a simple process but the pictures are very effective and fun to look at.