Back From Break

Well I'm back from beautiful New Mexico where I was visiting family. Got to see Santa Fe for the first time.

Sorry about the lapse in posts--I promise to make it up to you in the coming days as I ease back into a work schedule. Vacation was nice, but I always start missing my drawing board about halfway through.

I've made a new decision in regards to my manuscript submissions. I'm no longer sending finished dummies. Reason being, it's more important for me to get my stories out than to spend several months perfecting a dummy. This of course isn't the best choice for everyone, but for me, I know the dummy part is slowing me down as to hardly get anything out there per year. Instead I'll be sending out ink jet copies of two to three finished illustrations. That's it. Maybe I'll miss that edge that a dummy might get me, but in exchange for that edge I'll have several more stories per month circulating and getting seen. I've posted a few practice illustrations for my latest picture book story. Mostly just trying out things--nothing final.

I wanted to say thanks for all the comments on my Nicholas Pond illustration. I really felt like a grew a bit with that illustration, and actually saw some of my hard work showing through. Thanks also for the information in regards to piecing together and image in photoshop. VERY helpful!! I appreciate that.

Last but not least, I'm way behind on my email, but will be all caught up soon--probably in the next few days.

Nicholas Pond Final

Click to enlarge.


This is a huge painting, so scanning it was a bit awkward. If anyone knows an easy way to piece parts of images together please let me know.

I considered recording the painting process of this one but decided against it for a couple reasons. Even sped up it would take way too long to complete this painting on film and bore everyone to tears. Second, I wasn't sure this was going to come out. It's a complicated piece that needed some careful orchestration to keep the bear from getting completely lost in the background. The pond was also a challenge because making it too soft and the sky too dark, or vice-versa would have ruined the whole thing. I completed the pond and sky first to make sure they were agreeing with each other before going into the more detailed parts of the picture.

I'm extremely happy with the way it came out in the end though. Yay!

Illustation Friday: Holy Cow! It's The Barnyard Twist!