Illustration Friday : Wedding

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For "W is for wedding" I knew that the usual star of a wedding is the bride, but I didn't want her to be the star of my 'story'. The little boy and the mouse were the main actors, so I placed focus on them with darker colors, while leaving the bride almost void of color and very sketchy. I had a lot of fun with this one - a welcome change from some creative struggling I've run into this week.

Mommy?

Guess what's around the corner, kids (by the way when I say 'kids' I mean us illustrators/authors out there, who really are just big kids). Halloween--one of my favorite holidays! A book you might want to pick up this year--if you missed it last year--is Mommy? by Maurice Sendak, Arthur Yorinks and Matthew Reinhart. It's a beautifully created, extremely intricate pop-up book that will leave your jaw dropping to the floor.

I found a video on youtube which talks about the book and includes an interview with Sendak. This video is the first time I've actually seen Sendak 'in person' since all of what I knew about him previously was through articles and interviews in books. He's equally as animated and expressive as his characters. Enjoy!

Staring Contest 2

I digitally added eyes to this one. I like both renditions for different reasons.

Staring Contest

Happy Belated Birthday Jen!

Cover Image For Manuscript 2

Color Version

Full page sketch for manuscript 2

The Hiss Heard Round The World

From manuscript number two: this cat delivers some devastating news to his canine house-mate, and does it with a lot of sass mixed with a little evil ("Ev-Vil" - Austin Powers). Fortunately the dog is smart enough to turn the new bit of information around to his advantage.

More Character Sketches

Now these very rough (not final) sketches are for manuscript number two. The more I compare the two stories, the more I lean towards this one for my first submission. My goal is to just get one of these stories out of my house and in front of a pair of eyes - along with a couple final illustrations and character sketches. Come on girl, get your butt in the chair and follow through!

Postcard Countdown

Okay, this is my very first attempt at sending a postcard. Four hundred of them hit the mail today. So now, there's nothing left to do but sit back and wait. Yes I will be checking my website stats about 1000 times a day. I'll give a full report, for better or for worse.

Illustration Friday : Alphabet Pt. 2

I'm still trying to figure out what style of art to go with for my manuscript. I'll keep experimenting...

Illustration Friday : Alphabet

Who Are They?

These are just initial character ideas - nothing final.

Part of the fun of writing a picture book is figuring out what the characters will wear and what kind of personalities they'll have. Jack is very stylish, classy, calm, collected, while Zack is wild, sloppy and constantly stressed out. The smallest character of all, the unassuming little girl has the biggest impact on the story when she whispers one sentence. Maybe one day everyone will find out what it is (if I can make the impossible possible.).

Fall Postcards!

I accidentally, somehow, posted this on the Picture Bookies showcase, sorry about that girlies! It's been deleted. Lol, I've lost all my blogging skills since it's been so long.

Nice To Be Drawing Again

Well I am finally over this flu bug. Only today did I finally get rid of the nagging cough. Here's an illustration from a recent project - basically a colored sample of the characters.

Next post I'll be discussing the Write Now competition in which some of my fellow blogging buddies won! And I managed to place as well. :0)

Trip plus flu equals massive email backlog!

Summertime, Beaches, Fireflies....FLU BUG?

This is my official "I'm sick" image. Whenever I catch something I'll post this.

I was warned about catching stuff in airplanes, and boy did we. My parents and I were totally wiped out with the flu this past week. Our house turned into a sick ward with lots of coughing, tissues,Vicks Vapor, Halls, nose strips. I'd forgotten just how miserable a cold/flu combination can be.

So once again I'm still behind on email, I have library books due as well that are very VERY late and I can't get to the library to return them. I'm honestly expecting a horror show when I go to review my late fees online.

Feeling woozy again so off to lay down. Will post more stuff soon.

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!