Thursday, September 9, 2010

more digital



I'm still working on painting things digitally. It's taken a bit of experimentation to find what works best to get the look I want. My husband likes the no-line look better (especially like in the running bunny). I like a bit of line, but the less-line look is also fun. While doing things on the computer I feel like I'm cheating, or not doing things the "right" way. I guess I'm mostly figuring out what style works best for me.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

digital life

Hi again, everyone! Moving and other things have kept me from doing much lately, but here I am.

After walking through a bookstore today, I got quite the urge to keep working harder since I hope to someday have my stuff there, too! For my birthday, my husband got me a Wacom tablet, so I've been fiddling around with it for the last few days. Below are two images. They are both from a sketch in Cinnamon's Story - the first is the one I worked on yesterday and today (painted digitally) and the second is the one I did with real watercolors. I didn't ink over the digital copy like in the bottom, but for simplicity I kept the same color scheme so I could focus more on the new media. It's quite the process trying to figure out digitally how to do things I do manually, but it is fun.


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

It's out!

Here's the cover of my first picture book, which is out now. You won't likely run into it (as far as I know, it will only be sold at the bookstore where the author goes to school), but every now and then I'll post some illo's from it. Let me know what you think . . .

Also, if you live anywhere near Sandy, UT, there's a conference coming up (Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers) June 14-18. I don't think I can go - we don't live near enough - but I sure wish I could! Kevin Hawkes will be doing a class, not to mention a plethora of other amazing illustrators. Here's the link to learn more about it: http://www.foryoungreaders.com

Monday, March 29, 2010

black and white spots



I'm in the process of revising my portfolio again. Here are a few bw spots I finished today (that have been waiting to be painted for quite a while). I should also be able to post some illo's from the book I illustrated last year any time now, so be on the lookout!

The printer/scanner I raved about a while ago gave us ink problems, so Epson sent us a replacement. Unfortunately, the replacement doesn't pick up the variations nearly as well as the other one did. The teacher's hair isn't nearly as starkly black as you now see, and the black blob by the elephant's mouth is really his tongue hanging out. I tried for some time in GIMP (like Photoshop) to make things look more decent, but it wasn't working. Sigh. I'll just have to wait for something like another job so I can justify buying a new printer/scanner (the replacement doesn't allow me to print on my watercolor paper, either).

I hope you like the illo's. They were fun to create!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Another spec piece

I was asked to do another spec piece for Brown Books. I didn't get the job, so you get to see it. This doesn't have the typical colors I like to do since I was asked to make it look as much as I could like the photo I was given.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

A logo



A good friend asked me to create a logo for her business. Here's the final product. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. In so many ways, logos are easier than picture books. It was a bit tricky for me to figure out how to manipulate the text just so, but I learned from the experience, and that's what counts, isn't it?

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Stories for Children - Last Issue

A few years ago (about when I started this blog) I began participating in illustrating for Stories for Children Magazine. Next month will be their last issue (perhaps indefinitely?) and I chose to participate. It's been a great way for me to have a reason to illustrate, and I have certainly seen some growth as a result. Here's the illo, and if you're intrigued, look for Molly and the Watering Can in March.

I think, were I to repaint this, I would make the watering can silver (or gold, maybe?). Otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied with the finished product.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

my latest work


OK, so this is more boring than what I usually do, but since I did it I'll show it. We'll be moving whenever we can sell our house and my husband wants a website to showcase our townhome. He thought a couple of watercolors might help it stand out and enlisted yours truly to do them. I have to admit that making something this realistic isn't as much fun for me to do, but the final product is satisfying. And now I have a portrait of our first home.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

sketching

I made a goal to do a bit more sketching this year, something that is actually much easier for me than it is to create something from my own imagination (although not as much fun). I can easily go on auto-pilot and think about or listen to something else while I do it. In this case, I was listening to a basketball game.