Pack the Trunk

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Whether inspiration for images comes from other desires, but I have always liked the VW beetle. So it was natural to want to do an illustration of it, I guess. After some research I changed the choice to a VW camper van. Mainly, as the rest of the concept suited the use of a camper. I found a set of good reference images and set about making it look good.

The thought was, “what would be the most unlikely creature to drive a VW?” An elephant was the first animal that popped into mind. I had notions of a great bull elephant sitting on top of the classic vehicle. With some thought I changed it to a sun roof and sat the elephant out the roof. A little like that Schwarzenegger film, where he is in the mini.

It didn’t seem enough, to simply sit the elephant in the vehicle. Like he had to have a reason. This when a series of connections merged together. Maybe I was trying to be too intellectual, but I was thinking of the scientific name for elephant (pachyderm), and the twist that could be applied to the first part of the name: Pac to Pack. So the title Pack the Trunk was created, due to the multiple aspects of the term ‘trunk’. Elephant trunk, suitcase trunk and boot of a car trunk.

A picture was being developed of an elephant on the road, on vacation, with the wind in his hair. Maybe it was this I was thinking about, and the days when hippies would travel in campers, that decided the colours of the van. Something I had not thought about till the actual time I needed to do the render. The colours of the van represent the colours of the Rasta flag.

To add finally, that the chroming and headlights although complicated, worked out well, with the help of reference photos.

If you'd like to buy the first book, you can see it here: http://www.blurb.com/b/3164942-animal-behaviour

If you'd like to see the process of how these drawing are done, you can view it here: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Animal-Behaviour-II-movie/3267731