Illustration Friday: Rain Pigs

Here is my very last minute entry for Illustration Friday:Rain

Rain Pigs

This is the sketch for my very late Illustration Friday Entry.

Where's Tab?

Okay, both books are finished (sketches)! Next the sketches will be inked in BW, which will be scanned, cleaned and sent. THEN, I paint the bw line and send off the originals. Phew!

Yay! Blogger Is Up and Running

Thanks to Blogger for being so quick and on the ball! Yippee!

Blogger's Hiccups

Blogger is having technical difficulties today so I will have to wait to add the rest the "Foxy Blogs" links. Of COURSE they're having tech problems the day I decided to change my template around - bleh!

Sketches From Early Reader: Tab

Here are three consecutive pages from Tab. The basic plot revolves around a kitten who escapes. As he runs through the neighborhood, more and more people take part in the chase. It's going to be interesting figuring out how to fit all these people in the illustrations without the space of double page spreads. Eeek! I'll figure it out though, with some thumbnail sketches to the rescue.

Illustration Friday : Jungle

Lin And Hal

Two more sketches from the early reader, Lin and Hal.

Anatomy Of A Spec Sheet

You can imagine my panic when I received something similar to this (though without the handwriting explaining everything..) on my first job. The crop marks were particularly puzzling. What did they mean? How big is the art supposed to be? What are those codes? I of course had to call up my agent and have them walk me through everything. I was quite the green horn. So above is a copy of the spec sheet from my recent job (a spec sheet is created by the art director to guide the artist through the illustration process - it contains all needed info such as sizing, art placement and directorial instructions of what they want within the illustrations themselves.) I've hand-written in what each part means.

Crop marks - Marks that show where the pages of the book will be cut/cropped.
Bleed marks - Marks that show where the art should bleed to. In other words, when art goes off the edge of the page of a book, you create the art usually about 1/4" larger than the edge of the page. Then they slice off the extra.
Reference # - Each art piece has a reference number. Art directors receive hundreds of pieces of art in the mail. This helps with keeping track of art for records, and keeps art from getting misplaced or lost in the wrong pile.

This is a different piece of art from the spec description, but it's from the same book. Oh and by the way, don't run your sailboat up on the sand like this (LOL). I was told to draw the boat up on the bank. Not a good thing in real life.

And We're Off!

Sketches for two books are due in two weeks, so will be quite busy (happily!) the next few days. One book is about two people on a boat who get off on an island and climb a hill. The second, and most challenging story is about a kitten that escapes, while the whole neighborhood chases after it. Phew! I'll post sketches as I go. This is a color sketch for myself, just to make sure the characters of the first story are the way I want them.

"Print The Legend"

Howdy Pardner! This here is my tribute to Westerns - a favorite genre of mine. John Ford, Sergio Leone, and Howard Hawks come to mind.... Check out their movies, you will not be disappointed! Of the three I'd start out with Sergio Leone - with his stylized, operatic spaghetti Westerns. You'll look at film a completely different way after viewing his masterpieces.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

True Friends : Final

Special Friends

See that bear in the glasses? That's my good friend Rob. There are fair weather friends, and then there are friends that stick with you through even the worst of storms.

Mouse's Love Advice: Final

Mouse's Love Advice: Sketch Revised

The little porcupine had a bad case of "head-too-small-syndrome." So I fixed her up with a dose of Photoshop. Then I flipped the drawing around horizontally (similar to looking at through the mirror) and saw that the table perspective was actually receding towards the viewer. Oops! After fixing it, it's still receding, but only slightly and I'm not one to make every detail perfect. So..on to color! Woo hoo!!

Mouse's Love Advice

Broken Window Color

Broken Window

Okay, this piggy has decided to haul butt outta there. Maybe he'll later realize the error of his ways, and own up? We'll see :)

Sorry the posts are still kind of slow. I'm still having some health issues. The more things improve, the more I'll post in the ol' blog. Thanks for your patience and for dropping by. I'll be back in the saddle soon.

Illustration Friday: Fat

Please excuse my pig obsession :-D

Chewy Chewy

This is going to be my contribution to the Illustration Friday theme (FAT) this week. I'll probably have it finished by tonight. I was so happy that Fat was the theme--because when I think of fat, I think of pigs. And I just love drawing pigs!