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.

Spring Break 2013

Is over... :(

I did a lot of this...

Spring cleaning and repainting rooms that haven't been retouched in 11 years.  Phew.  2 more big rooms to go and lots and lots of trim work.  But I figure it's better to get it all done this Spring so that I can devote the summer to doing lots and lots of this...

Oh...and remember when I said my daughter won Regional Gold in the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest????  WELL, she went on to win a NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL!!!!! Thanks to my loving parents we will be able to see her receive her award at Carnegie Hall later this Spring.

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.

Who Am I?

And what am I doing here?

*I am an ILLUSTRATOR*

*experimenting*

A Piece of the Pie

"Simple Simon" snapshot.

I want a piece of the illustration industry pie so badly I can't stand it.  So I keep cooking up kooky illustrations, concocting portfolio pieces, & baking up my style brand.

here is a peek at a piece I just completed for the 4th Annual SCBWI-Carolinas Art Contest.  I am stoked because Lucy Cummins, Art Director, Simon & Schuster, is this year's judge. She critiqued our portfolios at the 2011 regional conference and I just fell in love with her infectious enthusiasm for children's books and her uncanny sense of humor. I've grown tremendously since that review and I can't wait to gain further feedback from her professional eyes.

Simple Simon - WIP

sim·ple·ton

  [sim-puhl-tuhn]

noun

an ignorant, foolish, or silly person.

Origin: 

1640–50; simple + -ton

Synonyms 

dolt, fool, numskull, blockhead, ninny, dope.

*think I've got it covered?*

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?

So Proud.

My daughter earned a Regional Gold Key Award in the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. There were a whopping 39 award recipients from her school alone, out of 2500 Regional entries. What a talented group of kids. They are our future and I am so proud. I am wishing the best of luck to all the Gold Key Award recipients as their work now goes up to NYC to be juried by Scholastic for the Nationals.

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: Myth

Moose are mythical. No??? Well, they bugle like a Beluga and can be heard from six miles away. That's epic, in my book. Plus, they are fun to draw.

It's a myth that this drawing thing is easy, especially when one tries to distill complex creatures down to their simplest shapes.  Especially Jackalopes!!!!!!!  

But I've logged another 5-7 hours towards my 10,000 hour goal.

Happy creating!

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.

Careful What You Wish For...

I received PS CS6 from my DAD for Christmas. YAY ME!!!! (well)...actually, I kind of wanted to cry.  It is going to take me a while to get my head back on straight.  You see, I've been working with Photoshop Elements 8 on a Bamboo Fun tablet for the last two years.

It took me that long to learn it and accumulate a set of brushes I loved and knew how to work. My style was really coming along.

Today, I updated my tablet drivers & installed CS6...and tried and failed to load my brush set.  Oh, they load.  They just don't stay...and when I use them they react differently.  Way differently...

Now I am all confused...and trying to get my setups the way I like them and figuring out what does what, and really, REALLY wishing I had a manual.

So, here is a little guy I practiced on. Change is scary!

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)

Tom - Progress Report

The entry is DUE by midnight on the 14th.  Let's see....little less than 5 days and counting.  I've gotta get this finished in my after 9-5 spare time.  *pshaw*  Not a problem.  So here is a sneak peek at the rough composition (leaving out the important parts - don't want to give it all away) & how I am rendering the image in black and white.  (I am cheating. Painting in color and then converting the image to b&w).  Great thing about last minute work - you don't have the time to sweat (stress over) the details.

Any hoo...that is where I am at with this thing.

PS - I think onion head man is my favorite character to date.  Although, Gibson girl is close behind.

Slow And Steady Wins The...

WAIT!!!!!!

Hold Everything!  Who said this was a race?  *zeesh*  Art, like life, is a journey.  And I am frigging going to learn how to enjoy it!!!  If people don't like my path, my choices, the way I draw my lines, than tough 

pa-tooties.

I am going to do art MY WAY!!!!!

(here are some sketches I've been working on for the Tomi dePaola SCBWI contest *due in 11 days :)*)

I am drawing daily, slowly and steadily, because that is just how I do things.  I am a processor...and a very messy sketcher.

I am going to finish my Christmas card this year.

I am going to complete (2) very special commissions for a friend who has been waiting patiently, since August, for me to get my head out of my rump.

I am going to enter in the 4th Annual Regional SCBWI-Carolinas Art Contest *due Feb. 28*

In 2013 I am going to complete a weekly 'Mug Shot' portrait.

AND...

I am going to take one of the 32 PiBoIdMo ideas I generated in November and turn it into a picture book dummy!!!

*I officially get to post this 'Winning' image by Ward Jenkins*

Yep! I am a winner simply by participating and completing a goal.

And, by the list of things, it looks like I have many more winning moments in store.

Stay tuned.