In the beginning of the film, Mowgli and Bagheera run through the Ravine Tree. Director Jon Faverau and Production Designer Christopher Glass had a very particular idea in their heads for this one as this was to be a very momentous moment in the film for that would tie the beginning and the end of the movie. My job was to help fish it out. These are some of the early sketches and paintings to try to get to a design that they had in mind. A clay modeler, whom I cannot remember the name of, made a super amazing model in a matter of days just from these paintings and sketches. It was brilliant to see him finish and add to the design. I believe my friend Jonathan Bach also had a pass on this tree as well at one point and may have some paintings of his own out there.
Final design for the Ravine Tree on fire, with Mowgli being cornered by Shere Khan at the end of the film.
Finalized approved sketch before going to painting. I combined the best of all the other scanned sketches and sketched over it in photoshop.