Candied Marbles

Candied Marbles

Colored Pencil 6 1/2" x 16 1/2"

I finished this a couple of weeks ago.  I hadn't worked in colored pencil for quite a while.  They are nice and neat, no mess, no big clean up. They were my medium of choice when my kids were small because they are easy to get out and put away. I've been a little spoiled recently with digital art - being able to correct mistakes and add highlights. I have to do more planning ahead with colored pencil and I work very closely with my photograph.  It's more tedious but a great exercise in patience and perseverance.

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.