'Dial-Tiger Turtle'

In the Spring of 2004, Artxilla held a Ninja Turtle art contest where you were to create the 5th Turtle Brother.. i was a day late in the contest so i couldn't enter..but i worked pretty hard on these illustrations and scince i missed the deadline to the sweepstakes ,it allowed me time to go back and refine the digital illustations a little. Here is his story::

Dial is a self proclaimed 'Tiger Turtle' ..completely adept to the urban jungle..he is patient to thwart his enemy.. but when the time to strike arises,Dial is swift and mighty with his tool of trade;his sharp and beautiful bisento blade..much like a tiger cub at play he absolutly loves the fun of the hunt..and the feline pleasures of being the 'Shere Khan' of the sewers. The kid is a little bit 'off'..if not a triffle mental.. i mean.. he's a Turtle who thinks he's a tiger.. go figger' ..

I named the character after one of my favourite fine artists : Thornton Dial ..who is the Image of the Tiger ..i'm often very down on myself and the chaos of my own work is extremly difficult for me to embrace. My teacher,Mr.Olsen has emphasized the importance of fine arts in all art as well as design. The pure joy in grit of Mr.Dial's work help me bring come to a centered point in my heart when i am in extreme dout of myself and the self-fodder my douts feed me. From 'New Museum':Lowery Stokes Sims, exhibition brochure.
"Dial's art is not the first to imply that the inside-outside boundary is obsolete, but it emphatically serves notice that the traffic across it can move both ways."
Roberta Smith, "Young Style for an Old Story," The New York Times, December 19, 1993. ..an extremely small sampling of Mr.Dial's work can be seen here on 'Anton Haardt Gallery' site ..

"Art ain't about paint. It ain't about canvas. It's about ideas. I have found how to get my ideas out and I won't stop. I got ten thousand left."

-Thornton Dial..

..ink,crayon and P.shop - May 2004