Meet the Artist: Cory Godbey
Cory Godbey is just as endearing as the characters he feverishly sketches. As a kid he spent much of his time in the woods of the Appalachian foothills, routinely tromping through trees, wading through creeks and climbing fallen logs. Not much has changed for him as an adult. You can still catch him hiking through twisting trails in the woods outside his home studio; sketchbook, brown Col-erase pencil and sharpener in tow.
For Cory, everything first begins with pencil and paper. Whether that progresses to watercolor or Photoshop or the mixture of the two, just depends. His method of creation is as natural as the work itself, drawing much of his inspiration from the world around him. His signature artistic style, a mix of traditional and digital media, is both enchanting and alluring.
Inspired by his unique style and mutual love of the outdoors, we approached Cory to be the first collaborative artist for the Smokey Bear Collection.This task is not something Cory has taken lightly. Collectively, he spent the better part of a year studying, sketching, and painting until he felt he did everything in his power to create his best work to commemorate the iconic bear.
So happy to see Smokey still going strong! The original artist, Rudolph Wendelin was a good friend of our family and we have many Smokey originals! Smokey the bear will always have a very special place in our hearts and in our family! We would love to see something in your 75th anniversary collection done by Rudolph also!
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