On Hiatus...

I am going on hiatus!

Why?

I need to spend less time on the internet and more time with my sketchbook and crayons.

Check back in with ya'll soon.

Drawing Inspiration

"Don't give up on trying to do what you really want to do.  Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." ~ Ella Fitzgerald

A big struggle of mine, often, has been WHAT to draw...feeling inspired!  That hasn't been the case lately.  I am full to BURSTING with ideas.  The struggle now is getting them all down on paper.

It is when I decided to tap into the well-spring of MY HEART that the greatest inspirations have started to pour out...my characters are gaining more life, more validity and becoming much more honest!!!! My lines are becoming more confident and I think I am becoming a better emotional storyteller.

I am starting to see LOVE on the paper

Recently I stumbled upon the story of Tarra & Bella! 

*yes, I know, apparently I've been living under a rock since I am just now learning about this dynamic duo* 

I allowed myself to feel all sorts of painful emotions and realized the best way to cope would be to tell their story in my own words...

their's is a wonderful story of friendship and loss.

Sad

Endearing

Enduring

& ultimately inspirational!

Power to the Peculiar

I am on this mad mission to capture the essence of peculiar children the world over!!!

Why?

Because I feel there is great power in being

distinctive, different from the usual or normal, special, particular, odd, curious, eccentric, and queer.  This summer I am reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children & Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can't Stop Talking

In an excerpt from the latter: 

But we make a grave mistake to embrace the Extrovert Ideal so unthinkingly. Some of our greatest ideas, art, and inventions—from the theory of evolution to van Goghʼs sunflowers to the personal computer— came from quiet and cerebral people who knew how to tune in to their inner worlds and the treasures to be found there.

In a family of TYPE A's I battle constantly with being 'misunderstood' and I've exhausted myself for decades trying to fit into the great American "Extrovert Ideal"

What about us, the peculiar, makes the extrovert so uncomfortable??????

I think we need to treasure kids that don't fit the 'ideal' by immortalizing them in picture books & early readers.

WHERE ARE THE 21ST CENTURY PIPPY LONGSTOCKINGS???????

My style of illustration was recently dubbed 'peculiar'...at first that smacked of insult.  But now I don't care.  I am growing quite fond of my distinctive, odd, curious and queer cast of characters.  I just know they will one day mark their own unique place in history!

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!!!

IF: Sweet/Children

Well...I am a week or so behind, but I did finish my 'Sweet' illo for the Illustration Friday -5/31/13 theme. And I have a sketch in the work's for this week's CHILDREN theme...just in time for Father's Day!!!!

(that's a National Geographic they are looking at, btw :)

IF: Liquid

*Brain Freeze*

IF: Future

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

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!!!

Stuck...

I won't go into the details...but I am stuck...been stuck...trying to become unstuck.  Ever get that way in life? Creatively?  How do you become unstuck w/out becoming unglued?

Still sorting out this one...Dad's arm needs to move, need to add a moustache, I don't like how the bed blends into his pants and the negative/white space is driving me batty.

Let Them Eat Cake...

No PIE!!!!

I'd forgotten how liberating working on tracing paper can be.

Also, how liberating loose leaf can be.  Something magical happens when you feel free to turn the paper around...or wad it up and pitch it out.

I become less married to the sketch and and less afraid to start over when something isn't working.

Why do we feel the need to memorialize our sketches?  Does the author feel compelled to save every first draft?

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.

IF: Wings

I remain mum on the topic...of Cupid & Valentines...not wings. Those are pretty cool. I wouldn't mind a pair or two, well glued, and not capable of carrying me too close to the sun.

IF: Ocean

One of my goals for 2013 is to sketch daily.  I also want to participate more often with Illustration Friday. So, each week my daily sketches will revolve around the IF theme.  I sense that there is an ocean of possibility in this method.

On Deck...

Happy 2013, a bit belatedly!!!!
Are you excited????? I am.  More excited than I have been in decades.  I don't know why, but I am take'n this love'n feel'n and running with it.
Maybe it is because this year instead of resolutions I set goals...and then made baby step goals.
Maybe it is simply because 2012 is behind me.

Here are just a few things on deck for first quarter of 2013:
1. Respond to the lovely Liebster Award given to me by Nina Crittenden
2. Complete two commission pieces (see sketches above)
3. Enter the 2013 SCBWI-Carolinas art contest (deadline Feb. 28th)
4. Mail out promo cards in March.
5. AND (drum roll) complete steps 1-4 in the "Unofficial 2013 #PBDummy Challenge"
6. Sketch SOMETHING daily.
7. Paint weekly.

An amazing thing happens when you pray for direction, then write down what you hear...the tools you need to get the job done begin to appear.

So what is on deck for you this quarter??? I'd love to hear.  We are all in this together.

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?

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!

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.