Barnyard Airtraffic

After eating half his bucket of Halloween candy, Billy had some very strange dreams that night...

More Color Studies

When starting a new book, I like to make sure I'm a hundred percent happy with the main character and how he interacts with minor characters. They have to have chemistry together just like actors in a good movie. I've experimented with tons of different character designs for the kids--some were shorter and more cartoony, while some were larger and more realistic. I changed the kitty (star of the show) around a lot as well. I do these quick color spots with my characters until something starts to come alive. When that happens I'm ready to go to final sketches.

Sketches!

Illustration Friday: Sugary

More Studies

Story Hour

Stretch! Meow...

Illustration Friday : Packed


Not only are cats the masters of grace and beauty, comfortable in their knowledge that they are far superior to humans - but they also raise the art of napping to a whole new level. This kitty has packed about as much napping into his day as possible. Now, please excuse him while he naps a little more...

All Grown Up

She had forgotten to pack her most important thing! At least that's what her teddy bear thought...

Illustration Friday: Clique

Illustration Friday: Island

No man is an island.

Rest In Peace, Beloved Georgia

Thanks to all who sent well wishes and prayers for Georgia. She was able to spend one last day at home with family after she got out of the vet. Georgia is the dog on the left.

Near this Spot

are deposited the Remains of one

who possessed Beauty without Vanity,

Strength without Insolence,

Courage without Ferocity,

and all the virtues of Man without his Vices.

This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery

if inscribed over human Ashes,

is but a just tribute to the Memory of

BOATSWAIN, a DOG,

who was born in Newfoundland May 1803

and died at Newstead Nov. 18, 1808.

But the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend,

The first to welcome, foremost to defend,

Whose honest heart is still his Master’s own,

Who labors, fights, lives, breathes for him alone

-Lord Byron

A Little Prayer

My sweet dog Georgia is very ill with kidney disease but maybe be able to feel healthy again for a bit longer if she pulls through her fluid therapy. Any prayers for her would be very much appreciated!

a Page From The "Raj" Sketchbook

Illustration Friday: Detach

Another Style - Pen and Ink

More Raj Character Sketches

Portrait of Raj

Portrait of Raj the Book Store Tiger


Wow, I got a lot of painting done today!

Illustration Friday: Sail

Frog and Turtle watched as the swan sailed by with her brood.

Swan Sketch for Illustration Friday

Dont You Just Hate It When...

Don't you just hate it when you feel inspired to draw and paint, but have tons of chores and (life things) to do first? I feel like I'm a kid at school all over again watching the clock inch it's way to 3 o' clock. I'm especially excited about this new creative upswing because my usual inspiration has been wavering a bit - something that never fails to worry me, although I know it shouldn't because it always comes back.

I of course couldn't be more excited about my current projects, but part of being an artist is weathering dips in crativity. It's easy to forget that part of your duty (yes duty) as an artist it to keep igniting that flame. It doesn't always happen on its own. I have my list of things I do when I don't feel excited about drawing for several days (or even weeks at times if I'm stressed or something). First I look back at artist's work that has inspired me. Then I search libraries, book stores, Lookybook.com, Amazon.com etc for new artists - and there are always new artists that I haven't discovered yet. The latter idea usually works the best. I also have this scrapbook published about William Joyce that's a sure fire choice. It has all sorts of his early sketches that quickly remind me why I began this wonderful career in the first place.

Well I'm off to do my 'have-tos' such as picking up my newly fixed, once water damaged laptop - argh. Don't ever leave any water/liquid near your laptop! It's a fast way for your 3 dollar Aqua Fina bottle to suddenly cost you 1,200 bucks.

Neat Little Myspace Slideshow

In Color - Raj Test Painting

Well I got to bed and woke up at 4:30 am with creative energies that kept me from falling back asleep. I knew it had something to do with the drawing left unpainted on my desk. Was it going to come out alright? Would I be able to get the sunlit room effect I was hoping for? At last I got up and worked from 5 am - 7 am to complete it, felt happy with the results and finally fell back into a much more restful slumber. I can post these without any copyright issues since they aren't going to end up in the book.

I've been really drawn(no pun intended) to pen/ink and watercolor illustrations lately so I'll probably test that type of style out as well.

Raj Test Sketch

Well darn, finished this at 1:30 am so won't be able to paint it until tomorrow. Current influences:

William Joyce
Edward Ardizzone

Raj

I've finished the dummy book for "The Little Green Pea" so while I wait for comments from the editor and art director I'm going to begin the dummy book for "Raj". Right now I'm doing some small spot illustrations using different styles to sort of test what would be best for the text. The art director pointed out several different styles from my portfolio that she liked so I feel I can experiment and still stay within the realm of what's expected of me. Once I find a style that fits, I'll send the color samples to the art director/editor and cross my fingers that they agree with me.

Illustration Friday : Canned

Maxwell got canned from his job as watch dog..... after paying more attention to the strawberry cupcakes than to the robbers who broke into the bakery.


Wow, I think this is probably the longest I've ever been away from my blog! I have to say I've really missed it--especially the comradery. Thanks so much for all the wonderful and kind comments on my previous post! :0)

The books are going well - right now I'm working on the dummy for The Little Green Pea. It's been quite a challenge as there aren't many books starring peas as main characters so I've really had to go with little reference save for realistic photographs of pea plants and leaves. I finally decided to base some of my characters on the classic images of moons and their faces. All you need is some green tint and you've got a pea instead of a moon! I have three spreads left to do and the cover and off it will go to the art director and editor. While they review that I'm going to start on the next book, Raj. Now, I've drawn lots of cats in my career and have owned cats most of my life so I'm looking forward to drawing Raj (the bookstore kitty who thinks he's a tiger).

Well the drawing desk is calling once again. I'll try to post more often!

Book Contracts :-)

I thought I'd finally share some of the details of my recent contracts. I started Fox in Socks on Typepad back in 2004 and wrote pretty regularly about how I dreamed of illustrating trade books. I practiced and tried my best to improve as an artist year after year, and some years I hardly got any work at all. My point here is, if I can do it anyone can. I put everything I had into this goal for a long time, and yes it's hard to keep the momentum going without seeing results for that long. I guess it helps that even if I was never paid to do this, I'd still illustrate and write because I love it so much and because it's what I'm driven to do. It's what keeps me up late at night, and makes me feel excited in the morning when a wake up. I can't imagine life without children's books and the amazing world found within them.

My very first trade book assignment came in a couple months ago from Sleeping Bear Press. The story: "The Little Green Pea". I'm pretty sure I can't share any story line details yet--just don't want to take a chance on that. Anyways, this in and of itself was enough to keep me excited for the next year - I was walking on clouds.

A month later, another book assignment comes in from Charlesbridge called Raj. Wow! I couldn't believe this - two books hooray! I was over the moon!

A week later, I get a trade book offer from Dutton to illustrate "Baby Moose Visits". By this time I was feeling slightly faint! What was going on? All this work in a matter of two months?

Three fantastic stories to illustrate, what more could an illustrator possibly ask for? My biggest dream is not only realized, but bypassed.

To add to this amazing year, a fourth possible contract is being discussed with a UK publishing company who's books I absolutely love.

Let's just say I haven't been sleeping well recently - but it's the kind of insomnia you really don't mind. I can't begin to express how appreciative I am of the generosity other artists and fans of children's literature have shown me. Thank you for all the kind comments over the years.

Present For Seymore

The little mouse was very worried about his friend. Seymore had been moping around for days since arriving at the zoo. He handed him his balloons, but Seymore just stared passed him while a tear creeped its way down his trunk.

Scrap Paper Painting

Left over scrap paper always calls for me to paint something on it - especially unusual sizes such as this vertical piece.

Tag! Typical Day

I have to keep this short because typing causes wrist pain, but my days are almost never the same. I'm helping care for my Grandmother who has alzheimers so my drawing schedule mostly revolves around that. Since things quiet down after she goes to bed, I admittedly will stay up till 5-6 am drawing. I know it's time to go to bed when I hear the paper boy flinging papers onto driveways.

Thanks for tagging me Eric!

Illustration Friday: Worry

The Worry Warthog:

Illustration Friday: Wide

"He's got the whole world in his hands
He's go the whole WIDE world, in his hands..."

I have very very good news! I've been hired to illustrate three trade books this year! Hooray!

Many thanks for the comments on my piggy propeller illustration.

p.s. sorry about the double entry on the illustration friday list - the address on the second one isn't right.

Illustration Friday: Electricity - The Great Escape

This pig secretly studied electrical engineering and mechanics via online courses on the bacon farm. He then plugged in the charger of his new invention in an outdoor outlet of the farmer's own home. The picture tells the rest of the story...

Piggy In A Puddle

More Character Sketches

Shy Sheep

Another character sketch.

Flying Cow

Since I have two assignments that star cows, I've been drawing quite a few of them the last few days.

Chickens Like Skating Too!

Illustration Friday: Seed

This sheep just got caught eating a flower that the cow had grown from a seed.

Holy Cow!

I obviously can't post actual illustrations from the early reader I'm working on, but I can post color sketches. I do this kind of thing a lot since I have several styles on my portfolio-that way I can be sure I'm doing the type of art the art director is expecting.

I do plan on narrowing down my styles to just two, or maybe one at some point. But it's hard because I get bored so quickly and change around. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind getting super good at one instead of being a jack of all trades and master of none.

Lost!

When I was little I used to worry a lot about getting lost and even had frequent nightmares about it. One of the scariest times was when I got lost in Europe at around age 7. No one spoke English so they couldn't understand what was wrong when I tried to explain in between sobs! I drew the above illustration with some of that fear in mind. It seems your own world stops while everyone else rushes around you lost in their own goings on. The little red bird there is watching out for her though. ;-)

Well today I got another assignment, this time from Scholastic. I'm going to be illustrating an adorable early reader with all sorts of animals. Much of it takes place at night so that's right down my alley. I love drawing night scenes. I think I'll be remember the month of April '08 for the rest of my life with all this exciting work coming in!

When it Rains it Pours!

Well, I have been contacted to possibly do another trade book. Details are still in the works and it's not yet set in stone. Also, thanks to a very generous friend recommending me, I have been offered a four page spread for Jack and Jill Magazine! Yippee!

Here's a hint about the second book. It's about a cat!

Signed,

Paige Keiser who is walking on clouds....

Watching "Rio Bravo"

Pig of Hearts

Spring

This was a quick picture actually - not planned out. I just wanted to test some watercolor techniques. It's amazing how much color is drained out of the original piece when I post something on blogger. The images on my website are the same dpi, but much more vibrant. Hmm...

The Hair Cut

News Flash! Meet The Author!

If you have itunes, then you have access to tons of free video interviews with some of the top children's authors and illustrators. Check it out! I'm watching them right now!

Go to the PBS section and click WETA Reading Rocket. Then Meet the Author.

Illustration Friday : Fail

The sudden downpour failed to dampen the spirits of these two travelers of the African jungle.

A Dream Realized!

I got a trade book assignment today!! Yipeeee! The story is absolutely adorable too - written in such fantastic verse you want to sing along as you read. I have no idea how much info I'm allowed to release so I'll just keep the details a secret for now.

So... this is what it's like when all the hard work pays off! I'm going to go celebrate by um...well....reading the last half of the last Harry Potter book (you know, since I'm such a party animal) ;-)

Or maybe I'm too excited to concentrate on reading a book? Ha!

Oops!

So I sent my manuscript and book dummy off to my 'dream publisher'/editor and THEN several days later discovered a style that would be perfect for the illustrations. The first was a bit more cartoonish than I wanted and may not quite fit their book list. SO - I'm actually going to finish a few more illustrations with the better style and send those to the publisher as well as an add-on. With all the mail they probably get I'll be surprised of the illustrations meet up with the rest of the package, but it doesn't hurt to try.

I'm not yet in a big hurry to send off to other publishers as I want to give this one a couple weeks - just in case. If I don't hear from them I'll submit to the others with new style illustrations and new cover.

The above image I fixed with PHOTOSHOP--thank you Photoshop for saving me hours of work redoing the whole thing. See, the father was leaning a bit too far over and threw the whole illustration off. I just didn't notice it for some reason until the paint went down. Isn't that so often the case? Grrrr!

More On the Previous Post - The Cupcake Study

(cupcake painting by Duane Keiser)

First I want to say thanks for all the wonderful comments and tips on the previous post!  I actually started this post as a comment, but then decided it was waaaay too long.

I saw this fascinating study on a news show a while back.  Some researchers placed elementary school kids in a room, one at a time, with a delicious cupcake in front of them.  The child was instructed by an adult not to eat the cupcake for fifteen minutes - and then the adult would leave the room.  I think (I can't remember the details) if they didn't eat the cupcake they would get a reward.  So they filmed these kids while they stared longly at the sweet desserts and took note of who was able to make it the whole fifteen minutes, and who either took little nibbles or ate the whole thing before the time was up.  It didn't end there.  They followed these kids into adulthood.  The ones who exercised self-discipline and didn't eat the cupcake ended up being more successful than the ones who couldn't wait.  It was just one study of course, and a slightly goofy one at that, but interesting none-the less.  

The whole point of this story is that I would have eaten that cupcake before the fifteen minutes was up.  I'm an instant gratification type person - and yes I'll often pay the extra money to get my amazon.com books delivered overnight.  So taking extra time on a sketch before I go to my favorite part (the painting) is extremely difficult and challenging.  But I know with the way I work, I have to sketch a lot.  Some people don't!  Some artists can lay down a great idea right from the start, and I wish I was like that.  But I have to build it slowly through careful careful planning or it ends up a waste paper basket illustration.  It just took my a while to figure that out.  :0)

Not To Bore You

I wanted to share a few thoughts I had on the process of creating an illustration--something that has helped me grow a great deal as an artist - and perhaps in posting it here I could help someone else improve.

I often use chess (a game I love) for my analogies because chess is such a good teacher of patience and perseverance, among other things. Both of which are very useful in the art world and especially when trying to be successful as a freelancer.

As I've slowly whittled down my decisions in terms of my style, I've begun to take more time to plan and create my final drawings. In chess the saying goes, "if you see a good move, look for a better one." This simple idea has made such a huge difference in the quality of my work over the past few months. It's so easy to stop at the fourth or fifth thumbnail sketch and jump at the first good idea you have. Your heart skips a beat, and you feel a rush of excitement. That's it! You think. But don't stop there. There is always a better idea waiting for you. Trust me, give it a try, and see your compositions improve in leaps and bounds. Don't touch that paintbrush (or wacom pad for you digital illustrators), until you really have something special and have pushed yourself a little. Good luck :0)

Look Out! Chicken Coming Through!

In addition to posting this image, I also wanted to say HI SABASTIAN! :-)