Hair Colored

Pecos Bill

I had a bit of a break in the illustration process, so I grabbed the time to paint a variant cover for my husband's indy comic. It also coincides perfectly with this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Wild."  Here is the link to purchase Pecos Bill #1 here: http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7435

For updates on the progress of #2 coming SOON! And more fun from Brian Du Pont at Colring Book Press, click here: http://colringbookpress.tumblr.com/

Land Ahoy!

 

I might have gotten a little carried away with this character sample. The client only asked for a boy with red hair, wearing a towel like a cape. It sounded like a specific boy, and I couldn't decide on the hair. Or the nose. Or the shape of the face. I took it as a chance to experiment with drawing different faces. It was fun!

 

 

 

As I drew, I was inspired by my son's imagination. I drew other sketches. A boy on a tire swing. A boy pretending to fly "up, up, and away." And a boy looking through a telescope. I loved the latter, and decided to take it all the way with a watercolor. 

 

 

Drawing little boys is definately my #1 interest. Even before I had sons, Peter Pan was my favorite character. Since then, I fell in love with "The Little White Bird" by J.M. Barrie. I love the magic of childhood and imagination, and the adventures of boyhood are the most exciting! I plan to read that book again sometime. Just think of the inspiration!

 

 

 

Temporary Home

Here's the little mouse in her temporary home... Rough sketches. 

Sketchbook full of studies.

Behind every strong illustration is a sketchbook full of practice sketches and studies.

Hair

Rendering this hair was soooo much fun! A nice break.

Hmmmm... What does it mean when you take a break from drawing by drawing ?

 

 

April 21 - I colored the hair!

Peek

 

 

 

 

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Another sketch for the mouse book. I think this one looks great as a sketch and will look even better finished in watercolor!

Party

A rough sketch for a personal project I want to paint. I have some exciting watercolor plans for it. I don't know when I'll get to work on it again, though, because I'm illustrating the mouse book. Maybe Sunday... if I keep up with the mouse book?? 

Coffee Can

The next few sketches I post will probably be for the new book I'm illustrating, "Little Mouse Finds a New Home," by Liz Siivola.

I thought this page was cute. :) 

Saturday afternoon sketches

Sketched around today while hanging out with the fam.

Pecos Bill

A variant cover I did for my husband's awesome comic book, "Pecos Bill." Since the legend of Pecos Bill has no ending, Brian's imagination ran wild with the idea of Pecos Bill, living in the modern day West. It's full of action, entertaining villains, and wild references to the American legend.

 

Check out the comic at:

http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7435

 

And see the progress as he works on the second issue of Pecos Bills Here:

http://colringbk.tumblr.com/

 

 

Glass Jars

 

 

The mouse was a cinch to draw! I have a live reference any time I want. My boys have pet rats.  (Believe it or not, they actually make excellent pets for kids!)

Thumbnails & Roughs

The process of creating an illustration page will have 5 steps: 

1. Thumbnails

2. Rough sketch

3. Transfer to watercolor paper

4. Ink

5. Watercolor

 

This first picture is a thumbnail sketch. I keep my thumbnails so rough, no manicure can fix them! (har har) I just want to play around with various compositions before I commit to greater detail in the final drawing. I do all the thumbnails at once before I begin the sketches. This is so that I can see the book as a whole, make sure it flows with problem, climax, solution, and be sure I don't have a lot of redundancy.  I even plan color schemes to match the flow of the story, and emotion of the scene.

 

The second picture is the final sketch. With this particular page, I added all the details and even did a bit of rendering. But I am not sure doing so is helpful. On one hand, it takes a lot of time to add texture and details, which in the end is wasted time because I'm just going to re-draw it on watercolor paper. On the other hand, it lets the client know the kind of quality and detail the end product will have.  And if I were a client, I'd be a bit nervous, hoping the new artist I just hired will deliver what I hope she will.   I think I might be able to make my sketches looser as the pages continue and the client feels more confident. But we shall see. It is a learning process for me.   

February

I had fun drawing this hair tonight. With the new book I'm illustrating, who knows if I'll ever finish it?

Wool

I am going to experiment with a new process. Here's a sneak peek at this week's Illustration Friday word, the sketch for "wool"

 

I inked it! I think it looks great! I saw another artist who does this before she lays down watercolor. I thought her watercolors lacked color, but then, she didn't spend very much time in the color, trying to deliberately achieve an aged look. So I wonder what will happen if I added bright colors to this?  I've never been a believer in adding black for a darker hue. Yet this isn't mixing color. It's painting over an ink wash. Hmmm... I wonder what it will look like? Update to come. I think it's fun to experiment!

Here is the final piece. I can't decide if I like it or not.  I love the limited palette, the structure, and the textures, but those things could have been done without the ink wash.  What did the ink wash underneath contribute? Is it worth repeating? I think grey for value changes is not as powerful as adding more color, layers upon layers of beautiful color.  But then again, the muted colors give a comfortable feel. Is that it? I can't put my finger on it.  Is this a process I will try again?

Storm

This week's www.illustrationfriday.com word: "Storm"
I loved the popcorn dragon so much, I decided to draw him again!

Avanti's

I drew this at Avanti's while waiting for my three year old to finish his tortellini. I love my special dates there with him. I also love Avanti's for their crayons and white place mats!

Myth

Illustration Friday Word of the Week: Myth



Unfortunately, I didn’t get this one posted to Illustration Friday on time.  I didn’t intend to participate this week, being preoccupied with my son’s birthday, and a commissioned piece due at the same time. But the idea of a dragon popping popcorn stayed in my head until I just had to get it on paper at the end of the week. I’m glad I did!  If I’m going to do a myth, it’s got to be dragons. I know it’s typical, but I’ve got boys at home. They don’t care about mythology! But they can sing every word of “Puff the Magic Dragon” from string and sealing wax to giant’s rings and painted wings.  Plus, home-popped popcorn is a favorite of my family. The boys watch it popping over the stove, giggling with excitement at every pop.

Hey.. Painted wings! “Wings” is the word for this week.  Hmmm….  Ideas are brewing…

Ocean

Illustration Friday word for the week: "Ocean"

 

My little boy has been into Titanic for a couple years now. It's kind of an odd thing for a boy to like until you realize its just a glorified "CRASH" in the water.  I have looked at many books about Titanic and watched him reenact the scene in the bathtub many times. To him, it's a cool crash. But I can't help imagining those women, sitting in the lifeboats, watching the Daddies die. 

Brrrrrrrr!

For a warm-up, I sketched my reflection. I the became amused that I was all bundled up and freezing in the January chill, drawing a "warm-up" sketch. So I decided to cartoonize it. I love the cartoon version so much more. Why didn't I move away from realism a long time ago?

New

When I think of the word "new" the first thing that comes to my mind is a new baby.  This might not be as unexpected as the approaches I took for other Illustration Friday words, but it is certainly my content area.  I feel I nailed the word "new" rather than simply "baby."
I am inspired by what I heard Marshall Arisman say in an interview, which was to explore your choice content, draw what you know about, and style will develop over time. 

Chosen Last - glow!

From pages 16-17 of "Chosen Last," the second book I illustrated for Orange Hat Publishing. "Chosen Last" really tugged at my heart strings with it's message of unconditional love and acceptance. You can order it at http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Last-Ariel-Oehmichen/dp/1937165264/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356113296&sr=8-1&keywords=chosen+last

I submitted this piece for Illustration Friday's word of the week "glow." For IF, I think it is always better to submit new art made especially for the word of the week, rather than finding something I already have that fits.  The idea is to create something out of the ordinary, a challenge, a creative exercise. However, this week is Christmas. Hello last minute to-do's! 

Here we see the GLOW of the moon as well as the GLOW of the GLOWbugs!

Snow

This week's Illustration Friday word: "Snow"

These two kids are dressed in their best snow gear, but they have cast their sled aside in favor of watching "snow" on TV.

It would have liked to watercolor this, but time is really short the week before Christmas!

Explore

 

 

 This week's Illustration Friday word was "Explore." I had a lot going on this week, so I was pressed to finish this by tomorrow. (Hey, it's the Christmas season!)
I would love to hear how others might interpret this. I packed it with food-for-thought, and feel that saying anything might detract. 
Artistically, I am trying to use watercolors. This is my 4th attempt, and I like the bolder colors, but feel they could be bolder yet and with more varied layers of colors. I am actually hoping that in a few weeks I'll look back and realize how weak my painting skills were.
Also, I am trying to break away from realism in a unique, fun way that I enjoy.  Realism has always been what I've done previous to this blog. (I should post some of my old stuff.) But I don't feel it has a lot of value for illustration.  For this painting, I played with Micons to add line quality.  I am excited to see where these painting experiments take me in the months to come!

Spilled Milk

I was having breakfast with a woman a couple generations ahead of me. When she asked me how my day had been, I decided to be honest. “I must have cleaned 2 gallons of milk off the floor today! How does he manage to spill that much milk?! If I am have to clean another spill, I’m going to be crazy!!”
She smiled and replied, “Well, you know how the saying goes. ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk.’”
“Really?” I said, “Sometimes I think spilled milk is the PERFECT time to cry!”

Stretch

This week's Illustration Friday topic was "Stretch."

Previously, I had a sketch of a curious child, stretching to reach a candy cane at the top of the Christmas tree. The point of view was looking straight down at the child, from the candy cane, with exaggerated foreshortening.  It was cute, but after some thought, I decided it better illustrated the word "reach" than "stretch."

Instead, I chose the illustration you see above. A teenage boy snapping the poor teenage girl's bra strap.  The poor girl! It could be interpreted in many ways. At first, you might think those awkward years are funny. Then you might decide it's bullying. Then, you might decide it's something in between - the growing, changing, stretching years of teens.  However you interpret it, there is topic is certainly "stretch."

Whiskers

I decided to join the fun on the Illustration Friday website, which I have been watching wtih delight for some time now. The word for this week was “whiskers.”

Check out the fun at www.illustrationfriday.com

Terrible Paws

"Such Terrible Paws If He Did Not Know How To Velvet Them!"

This is my second attempt at watercolor. I like it much better, but I can’t help but think that the reason I like it is only the line quality underneath. I really loved the watercolor process. But I’m still not sold on it as my medium.

Still playing and learning…

Midwest Life Shots Photography

This is the Christmas card I designed for my friends’ awesome photography business. Check out their website if you are looking for a photographer! www.midwestlifeshots.com

Loving Illustrating

I must apologize to myself for not blogging. For the bast month or two, my brain has completely checked out except for illustrating this book, “Chosen Last” by Ariel Oehmiechen. I’m staying home with my little boys right now, so my time is pulled in many directions, and how much I can accomplish from day to day is direcly linked to how much my little boys need me. This can be very hard to predict. I wish I could blog more, and track all the art I do. But every moment I have free, I spend it creating, rather than uploading. I’ll try to back up a bit and upload some art!
I drew as often as my little ones would let me. My house looked like I did nothing else. I must give a special thank you to my amazing husband who supported me by providing quiet moments to draw, folding heaps of wrinkled laundry, and washing enormous loads of dishes. Thank you, darling! Your support means the world to me!
I have to be honest now. I loved every moment of it. Even when my hand felt like it would fall right off my arm, I still loved it! I liked laying out the pages, finding references for the drawings, erasing the mistakes and working out the problems, and especially the careful, studious rendering of light, shadow, and texture. If I could do nothing but draw pictures for a career, I’d take it in a hearbeat!

Chosen Last

I have the opporutnity to illustrate another book, "Chosen Last." Pup #3 was was chosen for the main character. Then, I needed to create an 8-year-old boy to match the same style.  This style is new to me, so I brainstormed in sketch format. 

 

 

 

 

 

El Zorro!

My Beemish Boy

With Every Pencil Stroke, A Prayer

I offered a portrait commission for a fundraiser auction for a local charity. I did not expect to do a portrait of Josh and his sister, Jessie for their mother. This past year, the town rallied to support Josh in his fight against cancer. Benefits were held, prayer vigils held, newspapers updated. We the community held our breath as Josh fought for his life. He was smart, kind, 17, with a bight future, and a Facebook page that proclaimed, "I love Jesus" in capital letters.  He inspired thousands of people with his famous quote, "When you can't stand, kneel."  Needless to say, this was a difficult portrait to draw! I was nervous, wanting perfection for such a nobel person. I was full of thoughts for all the loved ones left behind. I have never had the opportunity to create a portrait of a hero. And I was full of prayer.

Wendy Darling

"Wendy Darling"

Lucy

My Boys

Another doodle during a another meeting

Art Nook

My little art nook under the stairs. It's humble, but I love it.

Coloring!

Coloring, coloring, coloring!  I've been illustrating the book, "Grant's Special Summer."  I've been building them evenly, the way a photograph develops, as a whole book, little by little. 

Scaredy Rats

Breakfast

A doodle during a meeting

Grant's Special Summer

I decided to document the process I use for illustrating.

#1. I made a sketch and cleaned up the lines.

#2. I put down the colors quickly, like an underpainting.

#3. I went back with markers, pushed back and pulled forward different parts to create depth, and layers of color.

#4. I added some colored pencil for texture, and an outline to preserve the "cartoon" look of the boy and the dog. I also added the title on Photoshop.