At the outset, I’ve not watched The Lone Ranger and it’s not for want of trying. Honestly, it’s a tough movie to watch, so it doesn’t surprise me that it won the Golden Raspberry Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel award and Johnny Depp was nominated for the worst actor award too.
I’ll begin with my expression of Tonto 🙂 (click the image for a bigger view.)
Pen and Ink Rendering of Tonto – Caricature Drawing – 9″x12″ Strathmore Acid Free Paper.
So who’s this Tonto?
In the movie The Lone Ranger, Tonto is the Lone Ranger’s companion and the story’s narrator. If you are interested in western movies and haven’t watched The Lone Ranger, which was a box-office flop, you can read the plot here.
Dead Birds as head-dresses have been around
Dead Birds as Head-dresses have been there in tribes around the world. In a tribe in Kenya, certain rituals require that dead-birds are strung to the head-dresses of the young boys who’ve killed them, in some American Indian tribes, dead birds (including crows and eagles) were worn on the head – and there was a spiritual significance of it.
Tonto’s look & the “I am Crow” painting
Tonto’s look is attributed to a painting “I am Crow” by Artist Kirby Sattler. Please visit the link to view the painting – and you’ll simply love it. Honestly, I loved Kirby Sattler’s rendering a lot more than the look of Tonto, but then the character of Tonto isn’t that of a serious mature man – it is that of a follower and a slightly funny narrator.
About the dead bird being live in my caricature:
I love them alive. I like to believe that the subject of Kirby Sattler’s “I am crow” communicated with the birds at a spiritual level – and felt them to a point where he felt that he was one of them. When I had sketched Bette Midler as Winifred “Winnie” Sanderson, she too had a live crow on her head.
Caption in reference to her recent tweet (May 16, 2013) about the IRS Raid on the Tea Party office.
A diversion to Game of Thrones
Incidentally, I was also reminded of Bran Stark “is” a three-eyed raven – and who can fly about by transporting his spirit into the crow. Since I wasn’t too keen on Bran Stark (mostly because his face reminded me of a real-live witch,) so I drew someone else – a Mr. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister – my top fav among the GoT characters. Here’s he for you.
Knowledge and Cunning are my most lethal weapons!
Tonto and the live crow of my caricature
In my part-caricature of Tonto, Tonto is in disagreement with the bird. While the bird has seen more and traveled farther than Tonto, Tonto being human suffers from the I-know-best syndrome. Thus, the bird and Tonto are forever arguing.
Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow & Tonto obviously don’t see eye-to-eye.
Why?
Here’s the answer. Don’t you think Jack Sparrow looks rather peachy when compared to Tonto?
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow – Actual Print Size of the Image: 12 inches x 12 inches at 300 dpi.
I hope you liked my rendering of Tonto and enjoyed this post.
More later 🙂
Shafali's Caricatures, Portraits, and Cartoons 