See Horse Evolution

This was a fascinating process for me.  

Kirsten Hall @HallWaysKirsten the Managing Agent, USA at Bright Group - International 

put out a Twitter blast asking for (bored) illustrators to make her a rainbow seahorse.

I knew I had a seahorse in my sketchbook pile so I loaded it up and answered the call.

She responded:

"That is fantastic. Color it! Seriously!"

So I did!

She responded:

"Love it. Can he look happy?"

So I went back the the drawing board and attempted happy...(not a normal emotional state for me - I had to Google reference photos)

It is harder than you think to make a seahorse look happy!

*where, exactly, is their mouth?*

*do they have eyebrows?*

I learned a lot about the evolution of creativity, about pushing through and digger deeper.

I learned that I can get stuck on being TOO LITERAL and GETTING STUCK IN MY HEAD.

I learned that I give up too soon and too easily on a lot of my projects

I learned a bit about art direction and how it forces an artist to think outside their own little box...(I LIKE ART DIRECTION, BTW...)

*how does one make a seahorse look happy?*

*how does an artist who can't really paint find a happy medium?*

When I closed the book on my seahorse last night I wasn't sure of his success so I posted him on Facebook and went to bed.

This morning my notifications were off the charts!  I've never had so many likes on a single image unless it was a post about my daughter or my dog!!!

A Caldecott Award winning illustrator, whom I admire greatly, messaged me to say the "new illo was banging!" - it was such a lovely compliment!!!

So, my little seahorse may not look the happiest (and I wept many a frustrated tear in his crafting)

but he sure made a lot of people smile today!!!!

Including me...

and I thank God for that gift!!!!!

Slow and Steady...

has helped me find my groove, my aesthetic & my favorite tools.  Now I am finally figuring out how to work it.  If I have one word of advice to the newbie/novice/more beginner than me types it is PATIENCE!!!!!!!!

Keep working at your own pace.

Know that the work you are doing today may not be your best work.

Keep at it.

Don't show it all...

Listen to your gut...it knows if you aren't being honest!!!!

   

A Work In Progress! Never Give Up On Your Dreams!

This month is my 3 year illustration 'dream' anniversary so I thought I'd show you how far I've come. They say 'a picture is worth a thousand words' so here is the one that started it all.

On a balmy night in June 2010 I dug out an old sketchbook, Sharpie pen and Prismacolor markers that, surprisingly, still worked 17 years after their last use in college.

I haven't been able to stop drawing since...

My style has evolved - A LOT.

But I still look upon this sketch with a great deal of love, for in it there was a tremendous amount of joy, humor, selflessness & abandon!

So here is how I've progressed...

Amazing what practice, patience and persistence can do...along with a whole lotta vision, faith and desire.

The dream is still progressing, bigger goals still need to be reached...

don't stop climbing.

But every once in awhile take a look down & see how far you've come!!!

Hug A Bug...

Or a tree... 

Or a cat...if you prefer.

Haven't had much time to do anything other than doodle but I am keeping the pencil lead sharpened and this chipper gal keeps popping up in my sketchbook.

Hope to be back in the studio this weekend...now that all the bits and bobs are hooked back up and put back into place.

Can't wait to incorporate elements of these two techniques into my process:

Digital Watercolor by Tracy Bishop

From Sketchbook to Screen by Renee Kurilla

*the world feels wide open and full of possibility*

HUG IT!!!

IF: Yesterday

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut, that held its ground"

~David Icke

Working on painting a commission piece based on one young lady's many yesterdays with her dad

who died a few years back.

Cat-Dog Doodles

Cat.

Dog.

Behind the wheel for this week's Illustration Friday theme.

Funny thing, this one. My Ridgeback, Rufus, LOVED to go bye-bye in the car. The day he died we spent the morning hours, before he crossed over, just driving.  I bought him chicken nuggets.

I miss him very much.

But as I doodled this sketch the brain started to stretch and it gave me a funny PB idea...let's see where this one takes us.

Chicago Love Story

*Sighs*
It's February, the month of LOVE!!! Don't get me wrong.  I love. I really do.  Just not this whole notion that we need a singular day in which to celebrate that singular emotion. Probably stems from my grade school days when I got shafted on the Valentine tally.

So I thought I'd show you some sketches for commissions I've been working on.  They are for a young lady, living in Chicago with her hubby, chubby white cat, two chocolate labs, and one bun in the oven, whom I respect and admire (and love) for her positive spirit, generous heart, inward & outward beauty and the wicked tattooed sleeve she sports on her left arm.

I posted earlier sketches of the pups & elements from her second commission request here.

2013 Tomie dePaola Award Entry - Tom Sawyer

Trust me!  It was just like birth'n a baby.
Wish I had the energy to say more about it other than "IT's HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I have to admit I am beaming like a proud mama.  Just a bit.

I knew I couldn't fail myself again by not rising up to this year's challenge.  I've watched from the sidelines for the last two.  And, boy, did Tomie dePaola ever throw me for a loop.  We had three titles to choose from:  "The Yearling," "Little Women," and "Tom Sawyer."  AND it had to be completed in black & white.  (Have I told you that I stink at working with values?)

I picked the title I felt worked best with my personality and style - and wouldn't make me sob like a blubbering idiot when it came to selecting my passage.  So - TOM SAWYER it was.

I had my thirteen year old dog-ear passages she thought met my next set of criteria: movement & humor.

As is my way I THOUGHT about composition a lot once the passage was selected.  As I thought I worked on PiBoIdMo ideas during November, I had a crisis of style that month too. I wrote a mission statement and adamantly researched vintage/retro children's books to remind myself of what I loved most about illustrated picture books.  I started do draw without references other than my own mind's eye...and I stopped apologizing about how I drew or wondering 'is this right?'

I honed my paint palette to vintage Sears paint colors, I winnowed my Photoshop brushes to only the few I used constantly, I OWNED my angled shapes, I started to doubt myself less, I started to HAVE FUN!!!!!  I knew instantly when the composition didn't click and I began to make intuitive changes.  I also allowed imperfect bobbles slide...

I may not win, but feel like I've already WON the biggest award of all...breaking through what has been holding me back - myself.

There are lots fantastic entries this year.  Check them out at the Unofficial Gallery of the Tomie dePaola Award 2013

Procrastination Never Pays...

HA!!! I am so stressed about getting my entry completed for the Tomie dePaola Illustration Contest that I find myself doing things like this as I work into the wee-wee hours of the morning (after my 9-5)...

and asking myself questions like: "Does midnight Pacific time on the 14th mean, like, one minute after 11:59 pm on the 13th?  Or, does it mean no later than 11:59 pm on the 14th?  Oh, wait.  Pacific time...*runs off to Google the time difference between EST and Pacific because she thinks it is 4 hours, but...* Ok, so does that mean no later than 4 AM on the 14th EST or ..."

You see??????  Stress ball.  At 1 AM this morning I discovered that the noses and hands of three individuals had all magically shifted, so the hunt was on through 100MB of layers to find where the errant appendages had been misplaced.

Here was my progress onWednesday night - last night I added a guy, two girls, one cat, a wig and half a man.  His other half is all I have left to go.  Oh, and somehow getting this beast condensed down to a 5MB file.

The final is supposed to be in black & white, but I struggle with values so it has been easier for me to paint in color and then convert.

Are ya wondering, yet, what passage I chose?

*giggles*

(I am so wishing I had started this months ago)

IF - Shy

Maurice was never SHY about ordering his Venti Macchiato, until he discovered it wasn't really pronounced (Mack-Chi-Ah-To).  Now he knew why the Barista never marked his caffe with a milky heart but, rather, a tiny little fig leaf.

(From my new Mug Shots - People of the Coffee Shops series. I hope you will follow along weekly.)

Stinky Cheese Souffle - Sketch

I don't know.  A smart talking, stinky cheese souffle made sense to me at the time.  Or, maybe it was an attempt at muzzling my kid who always complains about my cooking?

Psycho!

(based on actual events)

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.