Illustration Friday - TREASURE

One man's trash . . . 

     I did this one in several steps.  I started with a very rough pencil sketch in my sketchbook (brainstorming phase). Once I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, I sketched it digitally so that I could get a good plan for my color and value. Here's that one:

My original plan was to use this as something to copy from and I wanted to have a very nice finished watercolor. Here's my watercolor:

I just didn't have enough patience for the painting and I was fighting against the paper - I wasn't using the best kind for my painting style. I'm also a bit spoiled with being able to fix any mistakes in the computer, so I dropped it back into the digital world for reworking.  There are some areas of the digital sketch that I like more, but all in all I'm happiest with my finished piece.

SCBWI - DIVERSE

 
     I did this for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators monthly illustration prompt - DIVERSE
     I did the original in acrylics on canvas, then dropped it in to the computer to work on it some more.

Here's the original painting.

Illustration Friday - SHARP

"Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man"

and if you're a nerd (like me and proud of it) you might go crazy 'bout a sharpened pencil too.

Quick digital sketch.

Illustration Friday - DANGER

Danger, like everything else, is relative.

I finally did what I've wanted to do for a long time - re-purpose an old book.  I bought one on flower arranging for 50 cents from the library book sale. I tore out about a fourth of the pages, gessoed some of them up, and I'm now playing in it.  I'm working in acrylics and because the page already starts a bit messy looking, its easier to stay loose and have more fun.  I'm thinking it will be a good place to work on ideas for larger or more refined pieces, and also to experiment with techniques.  Here's what the book looks like: 

Note the message to self that I'm still in the process of coloring - "It's okay to play." Something I don't do enough of. Something I will try to do more often.

Little Lost Dog series

     

 

Here's a small series I completed recently. This is the type of thing I need to work on quite a bit more for my portfolio. The trouble with this was that I didn't work on them all at the same time.  That gives me a little more trouble with being consistent.  For the next series I do (and I do have one in mind) I'm going to sketch out and paint them together. Then if I want to change one, I can more easily adjust the other ones accordingly.

Illustration Friday - MONSTER

This is what I become around cookies.

This is the pencil drawing I began with.  

I dropped it into the computer and made it a little creepier.