Tuesday, February 28, 2006

When I Was Three


When I was three I had a friend
Who asked me why bananas bend,
I told him why, but now I'm four,
I'm not so sure.....

-Richard Edwards

From The Past

I started this little wordless story called "The Magic Puddle" a few years ago. The boy was supposed to fall into a strange world underwater after jumping into the puddle, but I never finished it. Typical of me, I started finding things I didn't like about the drawings, and lost the creative flow. Perfect is the enemy of good right? Looking back on this though, it does hold a little spark that I missed by being too hard on myself. Sorry for the load time on this:

THE MAGIC PUDDLE (unfinished)








Wait Up!



I spent a lot of time as a kid trying to keep up with my two older brothers. In fact, to this day, I still feel like this.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Illustration Friday Theme: Tea


Some days, a nice hot cup of tea is about as important to drawing as my paint brushes and pencils.

Train - Final

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Waffles and Honey Final

Waffles and Honey - Adobe Photoshop edit



Okay here I moved the Papa bear back from the table, and drew a "perfect" ellipse with the circle tool. With all that was going on with the characters I was having a hard time visualizing the surface of the table correctly. I would be quite the unhappy camper if I completed this illustration and found out the table surface was off. Even back in college my art teacher was appalled at my inability to draw straight ellipses in my paintings.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Waffles and Honey Sketch



Well I'm back from my trip, and now can use my trusty scanner :-D My agent (Cornell & McCarthy) is creating a new website for our online portfolios, so am trying to get some new pieces in. Hopefully this will be one of them!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Spring Garden


I have Spring Fever already!

A Dog's Welcome


I'm still in Norfolk and will be heading home on Thursday--really miss my dog! In fact, she will probably give me a warm greeting not unlike the one above!

Monday, February 20, 2006

Winter Cave



Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've been out of town (and still am out of town) the last few days visiting my family. Since I found a little time to draw, and brought along my laptop, here's a new drawing. No trusty scanner to make a good clean scan so this digital photo will have to do until I am back home. The illustration is for one of the monthly SCBWI (society of children's book writers and illustrators) contests. The short story is about a boy who is caught in a winter storm while walking home from school. The boy runs into a cave and sees a... (you make something up obviously). Very fun subject! I'll take a better scan of it when I get home of course before it's sent off for the contest.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Rain Dance

Vagabonds

Roar!



This unfortunately is going to be the last of the tighter style I've been trying. As some of you all know, I have tendonitis in my right wrist, and this definitely brought out the aches and pains. So I will have to go back to the looser stuff. Ah well.... Mary Engelbreit had a great card where a sign pointed down one path, and another sign pointed down a different path - the latter sign said, "No longer an option."

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Illustration Friday Theme: Simple2



I have read several articles stating that the key to happiness is to feel gratitude for even the simplest things in life. Go ahead and give it a try. Here's one such article:

  • Wellness
  • Snow Angel


    It's snowing today - yay! And I'm snowed in with all my art stuff. What to do? ;-) The title of this drawing reminds me of a funny story. I was on a softball team called The Angels back when I was 9 or 10 and at our second practice, our new uniforms were passed out. Well they looked lovely, but there was one problem. They all said "The Angles" on the back instead of "Angels". I can laugh with a good conscience because I know darn well that I could have done the exact same thing. I'm a terrible speller.

    Illustration Friday Theme: Simple

    Henry The Simpleton:


    Thursday, February 09, 2006

    Tuesday, February 07, 2006

    Monday, February 06, 2006

    A True Story

    Sugar doesn't make me feel too good, so most of the time I don't eat desserts etc... but one night, Ding Dongs entered the house hold, and I was under the spell of those sexy, delectable chocolate morsels. I only ate a couple and that was throughout one day, but boy did that splurge not agree with me. My head swam for quite a while. Although, I'd be a flat-out dirty liar if I said it wasn't worth it!

    Professor Owl 2

    Sunday, February 05, 2006

    Professor Owl

    What I Drew In Church Today


    I discovered something interesting while I sat doodling in church during the sermon. Well...actually I discovered two things. One, the act of drawing actually shuts off my mind and helps me pay better attention. Without drawing, my mind wanders off to things like, "I have drawings due tomorrow, do I have enough fed-ex folders? What if I get to the fed-ex drop off, and all the labels and folders are gone because someone is always swiping like ten of them at a time, when they don't even need them." And then the sermon's over, and I don't remember a thing about it. So drawing makes me a better listener. The 2nd thing I discovered as that the Minister DOES notice that you are looking down and drawing even though you are ALL the way in the back, and little does he know you are doing it for his benefit, so that you don't miss one important point he makes. Ah well....

    Saturday, February 04, 2006

    Ice Skating

    Illustration Friday: Chair

    The Naughty Chair

    “To the naughty chair!”
    My mother said
    “To the naughty chair!”
    My father said

    Then I sat down
    No books no toys
    Couldn’t say a word
    Or make a noise

    So I closed my eyes
    And rolled them ‘round
    Now my chair is green
    Instead of brown

    by: Paige Keiser



    Friday, February 03, 2006

    Emma and Dad



    My sis-in-law sent this adorable photo today and I just loved the body language between my brother (Emma's Da') and Emma. I HAD to illustrate it! It's now after 2am, and I have an early morning tomorrow, but it was worth it to burn a little midnight oil and finish it up. This is also a good example of how to use a reference photo. Cutting out the extra, and leaving the essence of the idea. So here is the photo of my niece, with the illustration beside it.

    Hurry Up Dear Spring

    Thursday, February 02, 2006

    Wednesday, February 01, 2006

    Lost AGAIN!



    My scanner is not picking up some of these Doc Martin's colors. Grrrr.... I might have to just stick with watercolors for online pieces.

    Anywho, these pieces are all for my online portfolios. I have one on my paigekeiser.com site, one on picture-book, and one on childrensillustrators.com ( which I won't be renewing..). After I get my 12 or so strong pieces, I'm sending off a postcard with my best piece. After that, I'm going to work on my picture book manuscript/dummy, and send off some illustrated poems to Ladybug magazine. (GASP) Yep lots to do, and meanwhile I will also be juggling the assigments that keep me fed and watered.

    The Present