Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
God Bless the Irish
A little change of pace here. First Ireland brought me my favorite band of all time, U2, and now they are two for two with Gabriel Byrne. He's the star of new and very addictive series on HBO called In Treatment. What a hottie! He was also in The Usual Suspects, and Miller's Crossing--both fantastic movies.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The Tale Of Squirrel Nutkin
"They made little rafts out of twigs, and they paddled away over the water to Owl Island to gather nuts." - The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Peter Rabbit Doesn't Feel Like Leaping Tonight..
"I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter! One tablespoon to be taken at bedtime." - from "Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter
This illustration was done in watercolors and charcoal. Anyone know if a charcoal pencil--or something similar to charcoal--that's waterproof? I prefer to outline my images first, but that's not possible with regular charcoal.
I don't know if any of you out there have seen Miss Potter, starring Rene Zellweger, but it's a charming film and romantic to boot. I thought for sure most of it was fiction, but after doing a little research--it happened to be VERY close to the real life of Beatrix Potter. Very very inspiring.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Calling All Children's Illustrators :-)
Since I often get emails from people who would like to break into the business of children's illustration, I'd like to make a compilation of tips from some of you experienced illustrators out there just for them. When I started out, I myself wrote other illustrators for advice and they were always happy to share their valuable insight into this challenging field. So.....drop me a line...paige dot keiser at gmail dot com (did it that way to beat out bot-email collectors), and share some tips, inspiration, do's and don'ts--whatever strikes your fancy. I'll of course post an image of your choice and a link to your blog or website, whichever you choose. I'll be placing a link to this post in my tool bar at the top of my blog. Let's give back a bit in the name of (in my case, the kind hearted and talented illustrator, Elaine Garvin--miss you Elaine....) someone who helped US out when we were greenhorns and wet behind the ears.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Goals
Here are some of my goals for this year:
1. I want to have a picture book manuscript accepted by the end of the year. Is that realistic? If not, I don't mind aiming high. If I try my best and at least get some stories circulating out there, I'll feel I've accomplished something. I keep getting so close to sending a package out, and then find something wrong. Such as "oh, that ending wasn't as strong as I thought" or "wait a moment, that art style just doesn't fit with the story." I want, of course, to send a book that's solid, but this will either be my strength or my downfall--not sure which. To say I'm passionate about children's books and their creation is an understatement. It's something I eat, sleep and breath. Hopefully this fact will show up in the form of competent skill in what I create (book-wise) down the line.
2. I keep hearing that it's best to have a style of art that people recognize you by when you start out. If you're successful I suppose you can start to meander and try new things, and I'm aware that I try all sorts of media and styles because, well, I find it fun and exciting. But in the end I would like to have a 'style'. Not only does it help promotion-wise, but when you get really good at your style, it begins to seem effortless. If it's effortless, you can think more about what you're drawing instead of how you're going to execute it.
3. Last but not least, I'm going to write a bit more in this blog. Not quite as long as this, as I want to conserve my wrists for drawing--but at least a paragraph or so here and there. I'm not that great at writing about MYSELF--because it quickly bores me lol--and may bore other people. But I'll try.
Got It
Well after many false starts on this idea of a bear sitting at a desk envious of the other boy's higher grade, I'm finally happy with a version. This is done with charcoal. I may begin replacing colored pencil with charcoal, as the line variation is much more interesting. Colored pencil line quality reminds me of a technical pen, and charcoal line quality seems similar to a dip pen. We'll see. Another reason I like charcoal is because it was my first medium when I began to take art a bit more seriously--around the age of 8 or 9. I drew my first successful 3-D 'sphere' with it and couldn't have been more excited.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Quick Color Study
This was done on a paper that doesn't take water media well. Better to make mistakes on cheap paper than on the expensive stuff.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Theory
The Polaris Bearis Theory: The theory that polar bears are such over achievers in math, they can't stand less than an A+ on quizzes.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
909 Unique Visiters!
Well my blog stats reached a new record today, and I have NO idea why. 909 unique visitors on Wed Feb 13! Wow! My statcounter only covers the last hundred, so where the first 800 came from I will never know.
Thanks for visiting! :0)
On a side note, I've caught up on responding to comments--sorry I fell a bit behind. Looking forward to visiting some blogs as well!
Thanks for visiting! :0)
On a side note, I've caught up on responding to comments--sorry I fell a bit behind. Looking forward to visiting some blogs as well!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Color Study
This paper was definitely not meant for watercolors--it buckled terribly--but I like the texture it left in the colors.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Happy (Belated) Birthday Rob!
To my partner in crime. Rob doesn't have freckles like the boy in the glasses, but he has the same spirit! :-)
I have another sketch of these two characters pillow fighting which I'll probably be finishing/painting tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Monday, February 04, 2008
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