Crocodile and Egyptian Plovers

The second animal I have Illustrated for my book of wild animals(including the cover illustration of the lion) is the crocodile.

The artistic direction of this book is to keep the essence of the animals and view each through an imaginative lens, playing with their patterns, textures and colours. I wanted to present the crocodile as a funny looking, long shaped lizard with a very big mouth and a playful character who likes splashing in the water, rather than a cold blooded dangerous reptile with menacing jaws.

I thought it would be a lot more interesting to put the crocodile in his natural environment, showing his amphibious nature, his relationship with the symbiotic Egyptian plover (aka crocodile bird) and also look at him from an angle that shows how he is long and flat and crawls on the ground.