Zombie Mom - sketch

A quick doodle while waiting for my daughter's basketball practice to end.

She looks like this when she wakes up; I swear!

Psycho!

(based on actual events)

Sketchbook Dump 10-11-12

 The biggest a-has from this year's SCBWI-Carolinas Conference, for me, were:

1.  Sketch more!!!!!!! Do it daily.

2.  Sketch what you love, the way you love to sketch it.

3.  Make the characters your own (translation: see the hippo, elephant, kid, your way & commit them to paper)

4.  Be willing to make mistakes.  That is how you grow as an artist.

5.  Know your characters FIRST, then create the image.

6.  Don't worry about where any of this goes...you just never know where the sketching process will take you.

All of this was such a liberating breakthrough for me.  

A Cover Story - "Conversations With S. Teri O'Type"

This week Conversations With S. Teri O'Type, by Christopher Allen, goes live on Amazon.com. I am so thrilled to be the illustrator chosen for the cover.

Admittedly, I did have an 'in.'  Christopher has watched me show my butt and bare my soul on the inter-webs, since 2007, when we met in an online critic group.  His words captivated!  They made me feel - something, often times keenly.  My poetry touched on the inane, but he saw through to the fragile vulnerability, and somehow we forged a bond. So when I launched into illustration, Christopher was there as my biggest fan.  He believes in me the way I believe in him.

His writing is flecked with pure pulses of candor, humor, self-deprecation, and honesty...in a nutshell, he writes what many of us are thinking, when it comes to one another and to ourselves - we are invited in, like a fly on the wall, to the neuroses that flaw us all and motivate us toward the most satirical living.

I wish this book Good Luck and God Speed!  I know the author is so deserving of the greatest success!!!  Christopher Allen is the great modern voice of our generation and I am honored to have my work hug his words into perpetuity.

Headshots!

Working...working...working on style and technique as I prep for the SCBWI-Carolinas Regional Conference in September.

I am just LOVING what I am doing and hoping it shows!  What are you working on?  Feel free to share with me your link.  I try to keep up, but an woefully behind.

IF: Refresh

“Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” Ralph Marston

re·fresh [ri-fresh]
verb (used with object)

1. to provide new vigor and energy by rest, food, etc. (often used reflexively).

2. to stimulate (the memory).

3. to make fresh again; reinvigorate or cheer (a person, the mind, spirits, etc.).

4. to freshen in appearance, color, etc., as by a restorative.

I miss my dog; and my grandmother who handmade her own braided rugs.