Illustration Friday - CREATURE

My submission to IF and a tribute to Stephen King, who has created a great many humanish creatures in his career.  I've been a fan since I started reading his work in the early eighties and just finished reading "Doctor Sleep".  The main character is Danny, the little boy from "The Shining" who is all grown up and still shining.  Thank you, Mr. King, I had a blast.  Since this illustration wouldn't look so creepy with Danny sneaking up behind him, I went with the clown from "It". 

Illustration Friday - ENTANGLED

My submission for IF this week. A sweet little witch with some friends entangled in her hair.

I did a quick sketch of her, scanned it into the computer and then painted her digitally over my sketch.

Halloween always gets me in the mood for storytelling.  She might make a good book character. Hmmm. 

Study for flower shop painting

Here's a little study I did today.  I did it in acrylics on an 8 x 10 canvas that had previously been tinted gray. I plan to do a final version in oils, pop out the colors and add more detail. I'll maybe add a figure for more interest.  We'll see.  I think I'd like to make the composition a bit taller too.

Norman Reedus

My daughter and I are crushing on Norman Reedus right now. He plays Daryl in "The Walking Dead"

and does a fantastic job.  WE LOVE DARYL.

I did this portrait of him from a photo in the newest "Entertainment" magazine.  My daughter gets to hang it on her wall, but I got the fun of being so up close and personal with his face!

Children in Tree - Redo

I posted an illustration a couple of weeks ago that I was not happy with because by the time I was done, the image had lost its personality.  I decided to re-do it.   I did a pen and ink sketch which I dropped into Corel Paint and colored.  This one is a lot more fun I think, fresher and more energetic. Certainly more along the lines of the children's book illustrating that I am aspiring to do.  

I think my style is going to end up being somewhere in between these two pictures.  The fresher cartooniness of the latest illustration, mixed with some of the painterly technique of the original Children in Tree illustration.

I'm tempted to do a third one to see where I end up, but I think I'll take a break from it for now and go on to the next project.  The Illustration Friday word this week is RESCUE and I have an idea that I'm working on for that.

first attempt at Children in Tree

Paint Brush Still Life

This is an 8 x 10 acrylic on clayboard. Some tighter realism meets the looser background.