Dueling Banjo Pigs: Leprechaun Piggie

I was quite excited when The Sketchables asked me to be one of the guest bloggers filling in while Joy tends to her new little bundle of joy. I lucked out with getting the topic of pigs!

For Halloween, I had done a Vampire Banjo Pig, so March had me thinking shamrocks and leprechauns, and I began to wonder, just how does a leprechaun piggie earn all that gold?

For more great illustrations visit:
The Sketchables
Dueling Banjo Pigs

Illustration Friday: Chicken Layers Up

Here we see Spring Chicken layering up to face the return of winter. I started these pages when the IF word was 'sweater', and it helped inspire this part of the story. I haven't quite finished coloring and didn't star the shading & highlights yet, but wanted to get these up this week. Critiques are welcome as I'm still making adjustments.

See the previous Penguin vs. Chicken page here.

Illustration Friday: Reverse - Penguin Strikes Back

When last we saw our flightless rivals, Spring Chicken had decided he had had enough of Penguin's winter, and had successfully cleared away all of Penguin's white flakes.

Penguin was not about to give up so easily though, as you can see in this reverse play.

I've been working on picture book writing, but I thought these characters offered a nice opportunity to work on storytelling sequences through images. I've recently been more interested in comics and graphic novels, and wanted to try my hand at it, albeit be a wordless variety.

I don't think we can end this story with our chicken friend down. Penguin's days are numbered as Spring will triumph eventually. I've been feeling defeated by this year's harsh winter, but sunnier days will prevail. So, there may be another mini chapter in Penguin vs. Chicken.

Until then, you should check out the real deal comics over at The Illustrated Section, where the amazing Dani Jones has brought the works of numerous talented artists under one mega site!

Also, check out Abigail Halpin's brilliant new comic, A Thousand Cups of Coffee

and Jannie Ho's super fun Sketchbook Project comic.

The winner is....

I want to thank everyone who participated in the Will Terry 'How To Illustrate Children's Books' Giveaway!
And of course, big thanks to Will Terry for offering such a wonderful prize!

All the names went into the box......

and then there was a whole lot of shaking.
(Good thing I was wearing my wrist brace. ;P)

Our winner!!!
Congratulations Debbie Meyer!

Illustration Friday: Chicken vs Penguin

 This spring chicken says this winter penguin has overstayed his welcome. 

I already submitted some chicken sketches to Illustration Friday this week, but my contempt for this cold winter weather helped inspire another idea. Also, the extra inspiration came since thanks to Jannie Ho it's chicken week! Who wouldn't be inspired by chickens!

I'm thinking I might want to do more Chicken vs. Penguin illustrations. These arch enemies might make good adversaries.

There's also still time to put your name in for the Will Terry 'How To Illustrate Children's Books' Giveaway! Leave your comment on the Giveaway post to enter for your chance to win his 7 helpful video tutorials!

Will Terry 'How To Illustrate Children's Books' Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY!

When Will Terry contacted me about holding a giveaway of his video series on my blog I jumped with excitement! I had already viewed his sample video on Character Development, and found so many useful tips. I found myself wishing I had an instructor explain these concepts as clearly as Will does back in my college days.

Will Terry's "How to Illustrate Children's Books" video series includes 7 videos:

Lecture #1: Book Design
Lecture #2: Storytelling with Pictures
Lecture #3: Character Design
Lecture #4: Illustration Design
Lecture #5: Rendering
Lecture #6: Working with Color
Lecture #7: Success in the Marketplace

For a chance to win the entire series leave a comment on THIS post between now and midnight of Jan. 24th, 2011 and a winner will be chosen randomly on Jan. 25th. Please make sure I can link back to your site to find your email contact info.

Good luck and please help spread the word!

Illustration Friday: Chicken

I had to be sure to participate in this week's Illustration Friday since the super-chick-tastic Jannie Ho, aka, 'Chickengirl' suggested this week's topic, 'chicken'!!! It didn't take long to discover that chicks and chickens are really fun to draw. I noticed my chickens tend to stay egg-shaped, and I couldn't resist outfitting some in turtlenecks and pants. That fella on the top right is an especially big Chickengirl fan.

As I've had picture book writing on the brain and have been busy reading tons of children's books and books about how to write books for kids, some of these guys jumped right into my stacks of books and helped themselves to their favorite stories. I've decided to take on the Kidlitart Picture Book Dummy Challenge. So far, I have 1 very very rough draft finished, and the beginnings of a second story. Since I'm not interested in writing just any picture book, but an amazing spectacular one, it is an extreme challenge to study all the aspects of a great book. All the writing stuff is a bit overwhelming, so it was quite refreshing to pick up my sketchbook again to draw these chicks.

In other news, I'm hosting an exciting giveaway! See details on how to enter in the next post.

Blueberry Muffins for They Draw & Cook

My blueberry muffin recipe has been posted on They Draw & Cook! Or, I should say, my mom's recipe which was clipped from the newspaper years ago. My mom often makes these after we go blueberry picking.They're not your ordinary blueberry muffins. The batter is super dry and crumbly so when they bake the bottom turns cake-like while the top turns into a type of streusel. I attempted to make these over the summer, but messed them up by trying to use Splenda. You really need to go with the real sugar in order for them to turn out as perfect as my mom's muffins. I mounted this illustration on a wood painted plaque as a christmas present for my mom, as she is a cat lover and these blueberry kitties are a tribute to her.

I sort of lucked out in the parents department. (In actually more ways than fit in this blog post.) My mom taught me the skills of following a recipe, and I have my dad's love for experimenting in coming up with my own recipes, like my They Draw & Cook holiday entry, Cinnamon Mango Frappé.

Many thanks again to Nate & Salli for creating and continuing to maintain a great site for us creatives to be inspired. Go check out all the wonderful illustrated recipes posted daily!

IF: Mail, Merry Christmas! & 5 year blogoversary!

happy winter solstice! 

I wanted to get my christmas card printed and in the mail this year, but since I just finished coloring it last night it became an e-card. (I have to admit I like not worrying about my cards being held up at the printer, or lost in the holiday snail mail.)

I want to thank everyone for your wonderful support. 5 years ago on Christmas Eve I decided to start up this here blog to begin sharing my creative endeavors. I never could have imagined all the wonderful connections I would make, and this year I was especially lucky to be able to meet even more bloggers out in the real world. Looking back, this has been an incredible journey, and it feels like it's still just beginning.

edit: Oops! I almost forgot I wanted to share my color palette choosing method this time. I had these colors picked out a while back, and in order to stay true to it I scanned them in. I had to alter a bit from the scan, but it was a good stepping off point.

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled holiday wishes~~~

I wish everyone a Christmas filled with merriment and a prosperous and creative 2011!

For a little creative inspiration, watch this amazing 2D animation.

I noticed this reflection in one of my tiny ornaments the other day:

Don't forget to take time to appreciate the little things

See you in 2011!

Illustration Friday: Phenomenon

Finding a cottage made of sweets and candy in the middle of the forest was quite a delightful phenomenon for these lost children.

 I did this for Will Terry's Hansel and Gretel class assignment which he was kind enough to open up for anyone to play along. It was rather generous of him to offer critiques of each piece submitted. Check out all the entries on Will's wonderful blog . Thanks to Will for the inspiration!

The first thing that came to mind when I read that this week's topic was 'phenomenon' was an old Muppet Show song which I knew wasn't the exact word in the song, but had a similar sound. I was able to find it on that handy youtube, and found it's actually, 'Mahna Mahna', which is a catchy little tune that I remember a littler me bopping along to back in the day.

They Draw & Cook Holiday Recipe

Now, we see what secret recipe prompted the other reindeer to ask Rudolph to join in all their reindeer games!

They Draw and Cook is an amazing project put together by Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell where artists illustrate their favorite recipes. I had done a recipe earlier which hasn't posted yet on their site, and when I heard they were holding a holiday contest teamed Food Network I couldn't miss the fun of entering.

This Mango Frappé is something I invented a few weeks ago. I had enjoyed some pumpkin ice cream, and thought mango and cinnamon might make a nice orange-colored combo, and it quickly became one of my favorite treats. I usually just throw these kinds of things together, so it was good that I did an actual test with measuring cups and spoons since my first guestimates were way off.

I'm so excited to see that my recipe was just featured on the Food Network blog!

2010 OAL Thumb Box Exhibition

While everyone was eating turkey last weekend I was enjoying a 4 day painting marathon to complete the last 2 paintings for this year's OAL Thumb Box Show. Participating in last year's exhibition marked  a new painting technique for me as started painting with Atelier Interactive Acrylics on wood panels. I ended up loving the process, and I love working with the woodgrain.

Tonight, I found out my 'Piggie with his Kiddie Bank' already sold!

*Update: 'A Boy and His Duck' & ' Carrot Donut Thief' sold the day of the opening!

I'll be making these available in my print shoppe soon.

Annual Thumb Box Exhibition
Location: OAL Gallery & The OSU Arts Initiative
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 2, 6 - 9 p.m.
On view: December 2 - 29, 2010