Illustration Friday: Confined

When deciding on images I wanted to paint for the 6" x 6" exhibition I thought about my previous whale and boy illustration, and wondered how I could squeeze these characters into a more confined square space. I'm often cropping images down, but this forced me to think about how the image related to the edges of the board, and I liked how this influenced the work.

Here are a few process photos. For info on paints and technique please see my 'Undone' post.

Illustration Friday: Renewal

I've been trying to get a new painting started, but I just couldn't let this IF topic slip by without a post. For me, 2009 was all about change, and oh, so many changes there were! A new job, and moving for the first time in 9 years, and being now back in Ohio with dear friends, and getting involved in the local arts community has brought on an amazing feeling of renewal for me. My life had grown quite stale, but now new possibilities and creative opportunities are everywhere!

For the past few years I've thought of each year in terms of themes I want to focus on. Going back to my 2009 Resolve post I was happy to see that I did keep all my 'resolves' in mind, especially the part about being more pro-active in all things. I took a lot of leaps, and told myself again and again to think and worry less, and do more.....just do....just act.

This year, as I find there's just so much more going on, deadlines everywhere, etc., I'm going to work on keeping my momentum going, but to really work on my focus. I finally have a calendar up at the new place, and I'll need to work more on scheduling and budgeting my time.

I decided that this year also needed a symbol, which is the running rabbit above. I started seeing this type of rabbit here and there, and paging through my sketchbook had drawn one, and written that seeing one was a sign that I was on the right path. I do feel like I've taken a trip down the rabbit hole, and while there were a few things that I was running from, (old limiting ideas and fears), this year it's more about all the things I'm running towards. My Chinese zodiac sign also happens to be the rabbit. This year, I believe I'm going to need to keep a move on to avoid being eaten up during this approaching year of the tiger!

OAL Thumb Box Exhibition highlights

There's a nice article about the OAL Thumb Box Exhibition on Jeff Regensburger's On Summit blog. I was pleasantly surprised to see my little paintings mentioned as a newcomer to the local arts scene. It was a fun show to be able to participate in!

Check out the article here: On Summit- OAL Thumb Box Exhibition

Terrible Yellow Eyes

My 'Where the Wild Things Are' tribute piece can now be seen on Cory Godbey's Terrible Yellow Eyes site. If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out this collection of amazing artists from around the globe. Cory has posted that he's made the decision to close the project with a final post, Friday, January 1, 2010, but the work will remain online as a tribute to Maurice Sendak's book that we all love so much.

Visit the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog to see all the contributions.

Illustration Friday: Undone

I've been meaning to post about my painting process, and seeings how this week's IF topic is 'undone', I thought I would post the 'undone' to the done stages of my recent 'Not to Be Trusted' piece for the Thumb Box Exhibition.

I wanted to paint with acrylics on wood, which is something I haven't done since the Holocaust Star Project. Blick didn't have the 6" x 6" size I needed for this small works show, so I bought 6" x 12" craft wood, and since Home depot said it was too small for them to cut without damaging the wood, I bought a Kobalt Fine Tooth Laminate Saw to cut the boards in half, and then sanded. I've always loved woodworking, so this was fun. :)

I gave the wood boards an acrylic base coat stain, and then transferred the 2 drawings I had completed. I could submit 3 pieces, but I only had 2 weeks, so I wasn't sure if I'd get that 3rd board, but prepped it with a blue stain just in case. (I'll post the outcome of that one later.)

I used a Pablo Caran d'Ache sepia-toned pencil to go over my drawing and add some shading. My goal was to maintain some of my linework in the final piece. (Before this step I had I scanned the drawing and the actual wood surface into the computer to work out my color plan in photoshop.)

I then started painting with my new favorite paints, the Atelier Interactive Acrylics, which enable you to re-wet them for blending, but you can also 'cure' the bottom layers with a hair dryer to glaze on top. They gave me the ultimate in flexibility. I also worked with stiffer brushes than the sables I'm used to. I liked the look of the illustration with the wood background showing, and contemplated leaving it like this. I wish I could have hit the 'duplicate' button to end up with 2 painting versions.

''Not to Be Trusted' acrylic on wood

After I had the background, and most of the rest painted, I had to scan it back into the computer to rethink her dress color. My original plan was to make it an emerald green, but that started to feel wrong. Testing out some colors in photoshop took the guesswork out. To 'cure' the painting I used a hairdryer over all of it. Some of the whites darken when they dry.

I was able to help hang the show, which was a good learning experience. The night of the opening I was surprised to find that she already sold. I was excited, but also just a touch sad as we didn't have much time together. I took lot of photos and scans, and I'll be offering a print soon.

This week I'll hit my 4th year Blog Anniversary!!! It's been quite an artistic journey, and it makes it all the better to be able to share it here with such a great art community. At first I was just so excited to meet fellow artists online, but this year I've been able start meeting some of you in person at the SCBWI conferences, and local artists here in Columbus, and it's been so inspiring.

I want to send everyone warm wishes for a very Happy Winter Solstice! I love this day as it means the days will start to become longer. I hope everyone has a safe merry holiday season!

Illustration Friday: Hatch

This sketch still needs work, but I wanted to post it for Illustration Friday because this week's topic, 'hatch' helped me figure out what I wanted to do with this drawing. I started the sketch below several months ago, and I had a distinct color scheme in mind that I'm quite excited about, and I knew I wanted to paint it on wood. I had to set it aside to work on my children's portfolio for the conference, and then an opportunity came along to do some small 6" x 6" paintings. I ended up feeling like the new work is more me. The girl below doesn't feel like it has enough of the style I'm going for. Sometimes it's only when you distance yourself through time that you can begin to see these things more clearly. I still liked some of the concept, so I reworked it into the above sketch.


Working digitally has given me more respect for the sketch phase. I'm now finding ways to be more patient and careful about my technique to keep some of that linework in my traditional painting. before I pick up a brush I need to make a plan for the value and how to create depth in the trees. I have a wood plaque designated for this, and I'll be using the Interactive Atelier Acrylics again. I'll be posting more on the new painting process soon.

Indiana SCBWI Picture Book Conference

I'm still behind on things I want to share and chronicle here on the blog. There's been so many good art things going on lately. I want to finish a drawing tonight, but before I do I want to share some of my notes from the Indiana SCBWI Picture Book Conference I attended last month. I was most excited about this conference because the focus was all on Picture Books. (Their MG and YA conference will be in Spring 2010.) These conferences are like graduate school for anyone looking to seriously enter the children's book market.

I arrived the night before for the Open Mic at the hotel to hear attendees read the beginnings of their manuscripts. Since I'm still trying to jump start my writing brain these are always helpful. Then afterwards, we laid out our illustration portfolios for a critique. I was excited to meet fellow CCAD grad, and amazing illustrator, Kristi Valiant, who had printed out critique cards with check marks for the necessary criteria, and what the strongest and weakest pieces were. This last question was one of the most helpful. Then, it was off to sleep before an early morning, and I realized that this was my first solo stay at a hotel. After cramming 5 of us in the smallest hotel room I'd ever seen in my life back in San Diego, I felt like quite a princess in my nicely sized room. :)

The conference was at The Saturday Evening Post. Somehow, it hadn't dawned on me where we were until I saw the sign. I didn't realize this famed publication was located in Indiana.

The halls were lined with all the familiar covers.

Actual real life original Norman Rockwell paintings also hung throughout the building. Real canvas texture!

Courtney Bongiolatti, Associate Editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers was our first speaker. She spoke about what an editor looks for in a Picture Book.
In her terms, she's looking for:
1. Uniqueity -Make what's existing unique. Unique a trend. Unique a format.
2. Readability - Does it read well out loud?
3. Realatability
4. Schoolability - Is it relevant to the school market?

Laurent Linn, Art Director for Simon & Schuster for Young Readers spoke to us about the Anatomy of a Picture Book, and their basic structure. He explained that rather than think about the art as separate illustrations, a PB should be thought of as one illustration over 32 pages. Fun Fact: a press sheet is called a 'signature' because back in the day it needed a signature 'sign off' approval.


Laurant also conducted a workshop explaining, through examples, what makes appropriate art to send as samples to publishers. Portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and figure drawings may be beautiful art, but they are not appropriate portfolio samples. A Renoir portrait is great for frame, but doesn't tell enough of a story in the way Tenniel's 'Alice in Wonderland' illustrations do. As illustrators we are costume designers. Dress your characters to show each individual personality. Posture shows character. Think in camera angles. The city, a landscape, or a single tree can be a character. Use light and shadow to show mood.

Illustrators, Kristi Valiant and Sharon Vargo also gave a talk on the Illustrators Perspective. A portfolio should demostrate that you can master a range of emotions. In writing for picture books, anything that you can show in the illustration gets chopped out of the story. SCBWI has a list of mostly current publishers at each house to send art samples to.

All in all it was an excellent conference, and just what I needed to get focused again after my move. Kristi was kind enough to sign her latest trade book for me, 'Cora Cooks Pancit'. I love how she's perfected a digital style that looks so beautifully traditional, and the story about a Filipino girl who wants to help cook with the grown-ups is wonderful and relatable. Check out an interview with Kristi about her book on Elizabeth O. Dulebra's site.

Now, to the lightbox to work on my drawing before my eyelids no longer stay open....

Blooming Blogs that Inspire Award :)

A few months ago, I received this beautifully designed award from Deborah Mori on her wonderful blog, Life Without Novocaine. I was so honored to be included in her list of uber-talented fellow bloggers, who have all inspired me as well. I've been wanted to pass it along, but these last few months have been crazy busy (in a good way).

I love the idea of this award; to take a moment to acknowledge how we all inspire each other. Being able to share my creative sparks, along with the dreaded creative blocks with everyone has enriched my life more that I can say. Moving to Ohio this year was a huge change for me, but knowing this supportive art community was still here was very comforting.

I pass this award to everyone in my blogroll, and all of those who I haven't gotten around to adding yet, but who I love to visit. (My Bloglines currently has 266 feeds that I'm following.)

I want to make one special mention of a blogger, the lovely Miss Linda Silvestri, who always inspires me with her humor, and who is amazing me this month by posting the most clever holiday advent calendar of her illustrations, which 'open' to reveal fun surprises! Anyone who has tried posting everyday knows what a challenge it is.

Check out Linda Silvestri's Sketched Out Blog. Here's Day 1 of her Advent Calendar.

The rules upon accepting this award:

1.) Only one rule. Pass this award along to someone who motivated you, inspired you or enriched your artistic life with their creative gift. If you feel so inclined, you can create a short list of the things you love, your favorite muse, or your favorite childhood memories. The most important thing though is to award someone who has made your life better.

OAL Thumb Box Exhibition- All Sold! :)

acrylic on wood (6" x 6" each)

I was at the Tiny Canary handmade arts & crafts show a couple weeks ago at the very cool Junctionview Studios artists' space, and met awesome fellow CCAD grad, Amy Atwell, who told me about a small works show with the Ohio Art League. I was excited about this prospect since it's been a goal of mine to get some art up on a gallery wall somewhere for quite some time. So, I was determined to get at least one piece done, but managed the max of 3, in 2 just weeks. It helped that I had some sketches already started that worked for this size. I ended up sick with a cold, as if it wasn't enough of a challenge, and I had to finish the one at my parents' home over Thanksgiving.

These are painted on wood panels with Atelier Interactive Acrylics which enable you to re-wet them for blending, but you can also 'cure' the bottom layers with a hair dryer to glaze on top. I had more fun creating these then any artwork I've ever done. I loooovvvved working on the wood, but I also want to try these paints on paper.

Tuesday I attended the OAL 'Art of Hanging' Workshop where we learned how to group and hang multiple works for this gallery show. Amy and I are very proud of 'our wall' we put together, and it was fun, and I learned a lot. After a few hours, hundreds of the submitted (6" x 6" or smaller) works were up.

Last night was the Opening Reception of the Thumb Box Exhibition, and I saw that all 3 of my paintings already sold!!! This is my first gallery showing, so I'm very excited. :)

I'll be sharing some progress pics of each soon, and once I color correct my scans I'll be offering up prints. I'll also be blogging about the Picture Book Conference I attended last month. There's been so much going on that I've been getting behind here on the blog.

Illustration Friday: Skinny-Where the Wild Things Are

So here's the skinny on my alternate ending to Maurice Sendack's 'Where the Wild Things Are'. (I know another bad stretch of the topic.)

Max was not so sure his mom would react favorably to him bringing home his new friend. But, the Wild Thing convinced him that once he goes on his diet he'll be skinny enough to fit under Max's bed unnoticed. "Okay, Max said hesitantly."

I've been wanting to do some Wild Things tribute art for quite some time. I went to see the movie for inspiration, and oh, did it ever come pouring in! I can't remember ever smiling more during a movie. I absolutely loved it! Spike Jonze took an already wonderful story, and created a treat for the senses. I love how Jonze focused on the theme of how to abolish sadness. How do you not be sad anymore? This question is what drew me in, and also how Max wanted to believe his acting out was justified and innocuous. After the movie I still wasn't sure what these characters would look like in my drawing until I looked down at my sketchbook and there they were.

I've been having a lot of fun in the sketching stage lately, so I decided to share my pencil sketch this time. As you can see the decorative waves swept in from my last post. Also, you can see I increased the size of the Wild Thing, (Carol in the movie), once I brought it into photoshop. I realized halfway along that he was too small, but decided it would be easier to adjust it after scanning it into the computer. Ahh, the digital age. :)

edit: sail color adjustment

edit#2: This illustration can now be seen on Cory Godbey's Terrible Yellow Eyes site. "Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of works inspired by the beloved classic, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak."

Visit the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog to see all the contributions.

illustration Friday: Fast

After the turbulent storm Caleb and the Whale were fast friends.

I can't decide which color version I like best. Which do you prefer?

I really enjoyed sketching this one. Although I may have gone a little overboard with the waves. Ha! overboard = ship reference! Oh, I think I've been up way too long, and am getting loopy. This is my image for the other side of my promo postcard. I wanted to show character interaction with a dash of emotion. I'm also planning on offering prints of this in both color versions, but I'm too tired to get that set up tonight. But, check back soon. :)

Illustration Friday: Flying

What do we have here? Well, when pigs fly in autumn they love to eat caramel apples while soaring through the air because they like how the stickiness catches the flying insects making for an extra special treat! Mmmm....yum!! There you go.....explanation provided. :)

When I read that the topic was 'flying' I immediately thought of my Flying Ace Andy, but didn't want to repost. Also, I needed to post a quick little illustration since some other drawings I've been working on have been proving to be more time consuming. ( I feel like such a slacker, and start to feel rusty if I go too long between posting a somewhat completed illustration.)

I'm about to register for the Indianapolis Picture Book Conference on Nov 6-7, and I was thinking I might use this for a promo postcard, but I'm not sure if I'm happy with how the colors turned out. I've started sketching another idea for the flip side. I'll have to take a look at this one tomorrow with fresh eyes. I'm thinking sleep is going to feel really good right now. I'm off to test that theory.......

(*edited with bolder line and color)