Singular Sensation: The Hungry Tiger of Oz

This Singular Sensation entry features my illustration of The Hungry Tiger of Oz that appeared smaller and partially obscured on the original "Contact Me" page of this site.  The Hungry Tiger was officially introduced in L. Frank Baum's third Oz book, Ozma of Oz.  However, many people believe (and I'm one of them) that he was also the same tiger that appeared in a chapter near the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy and her friends are on their way to the Quadling Country in the south of Oz to see Glinda about getting Dorothy home.  In the chapter, the Cowardly Lion defeats a giant spider-like monster who is terrorizing animals in a forest, and he ends up becoming their king.

In Ozma of Oz, we meet the tiger, who is the Cowardly Lion's trusty companion by this time, and we learn why he's called the Hungry Tiger.  Apprently, he has an insatiable appetite for fat babies.  The thought of a corpulent little infant makes his mouth water, but he's never able to devour one because his conscious always prevents him.  Throughout the Oz series, the Hungry Tiger is a member of Ozma's court, and also serves alongside the Cowardly Lion as an imposing figure reclining near Princess Ozma's throne.

For this illustration, the Hungry Tiger has often been depicted wearing a pink bow around his tail, but I thought that a teal green bow would pop better against the orange fur of the tiger.  Baum also wrote that the Hungry Tiger had purple stripes in his first appearance, but I'm not a fan of purple stripes on a tiger, and he's usually not depicted having them either - by John O'Neill the most prolific Oz illustrator, or Michael Herring, who illustrated the covers for the Del Rey paperback editions that I grew up on.  For his face, I used some elements of my dogs Lucy and Humphrey for inspiration, especially when it comes to the tip of his tongue sticking out.

Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils,  and Photoshop.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2011

Now available along with The Cowardly Lion on a t-shirt at RedBubble.com!