Illustration Friday - SMART

"Lars climbed atop the books and sat for a moment in contemplation. He considered himself a smart fellow. But, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out the reason for plastic fruit."

     I have been playing with clay recently. For a short story I have been working on, I created this guy:
                                                 

I did the piece in colored pencil first, then scanned it in to Corel Painter. This is what the original drawing looks like.  I'm still not entirely happy with the face, so I'll probably go back and rework him in a week or two. 

Afraid of the dark

    I did this illustration for my friend Haley who's working on a children's book idea. This is her main character and he hasn't been sleeping well lately. She wanted to see her character on the page and I wanted more experience in illustrating someone else's story.

    I wanted to do a nice polished portfolio piece so I spent time designing the monsters in clay and considering where the they would have come from. The bat-like guy behind him could be the nightmare version of his neighbor's hairless cat. The brain creature is something he's currently studying in science, and the eyes . . . I just like drawing eyes. Maybe they represent a girl in his class who he's afraid to talk to.

Illustration Friday - SPIN

Watercolor sketch with a bit of marker.

This is a quick glimpse into the psyche of a vegan.  Or maybe I'm a closet sociopath.

My daughter, Louisa, describes it as "disturbing."

Goldfish

     This is just for fun. It's on an 8x10 canvas board that I used for a simple acrylic mock-up. I liked the way it looked so I got out my oil paints and gave it a more finished look. How cute can one fish be?

Illustration Friday - TROPICAL

     This is about as close as I can get to being tropical in January. In Ohio. 

     I, however, am not complaining. I am one of those people who love snow. I smile and nod when other people complain about the weather, but I am not actually feeling their pain. Once in a while I come right out there and admit that yes, I am a snow lover. People usually accept me anyway. They may roll their eyes and pat me kindly on the head. To my knowledge, I've not lost friends over it. 

Just Being Girls

     This piece started back in 2012 with the Illustration Friday word prompt- CARRY. While I brainstormed I came up with the phrases "carry on a conversation" and "voices carry". The original is a simple black and white line drawing that I just decided to drop in the computer and color.

     Nothing beats a good conversation over a cup of coffee and a piece of pie! 

     

     Just for fun I'll share the other sketch I did in that 2012 sketch-a-day book for the same word prompt.