Sweet Love

Here's an illustration I started back in February and finished today. (Maybe.) It was intended for the 3rd Thursday competition, but a few complications deterred me and I opted for the blue lovesick pig I posted earlier. Now that I've fixed most of the complications, I unveil the illustration for your notice.

This color palette feels luxurious to work with and all that candy was a treat to paint. It was tricky  making sure it didn't overwhelm the pig, since he is the focal point. The tree was similar - making sure it looked like a tree at night without stealing attention away from her. I'm mostly happy with how it turned out. The only concern I have is about the perspective. Technically it works in my thumbnails, but I still feel like something isn't quite right. If you have any ideas, my ears are open!

Mischief at Show & Tell

Will there be an end to the mischief this naughty bear can make? And how long can his little friend work with it?

This was created for March's SVS challenge: Haven brought it to Show & Tell . . . even though she never got permission. I hope you like it!

A Trip to the Movies

I've added a trip to the movies to my girl and bear collection. It still has a few things that need work, but I'm going to let the illustration germinate to help me better isolate what really needs doing. My biggest problem was that I'd made it really dark (almost twice as dark as what you see). Since Will Terry warns that a lot of editors get scared by anything too dark, I lightened the whole thing. Now it might be too washed out. Do you have an opinion?

And here's an earlier version of the same idea. I liked where it was headed but wasn't satisfied with certain aspects - especially that the girl didn't look enough like the original girl playing hangman. After working it to what you see below, I took my SVSLearn.com crash course and began trying a lot of new ideas. Which led me to create the illustration where they read together (see a few blog posts down). I liked its more subdued feeling, and it led me to rework the movies (and hangman) to fit.

A Little Flamingarina

SCBWI's monthly art challenge for March is Dance. I considered various ideas, but what came out were dancing flamingos. Here's the final product:

But it didn't start out that way. Here are both sides of the (small) sheet of paper I used to brainstorm ideas and then scratch out flamingos in various poses. It got my mind and fingers tingling with excitement:

I liked the idea of showcasing what goes on before dance class begins, so I honed in on the flamingos stretching casually (see bottom of the longer sheet). I realized, however, that a lot of the illustrations I've created looking at a group from a distance rarely turns out as well as I hope, probably because the focal point isn't as clear as it needs to be. So I remembered what it felt like for me when I would look in on more advanced dancers and tried telling the story through those eyes. This is how far I got with this idea:

I didn't finish it, although there were (and still are) elements that I like about it. But when my husband looked over my shoulder, he felt like the perspective was lacking something and suggested an alternate idea. Even though it meant essentially starting over (and it took half a day for me to find a perspective and composition that produced the feeling I was going for), I'm so glad he pushed me to do better because I am so much happier with the final outcome. I feel like the composition, focal point, and characterization are so much stronger. And once I figured all those things out, my first painting was a good starting point for the lighting, color, and textures I used and it didn't take long for me to crank it out.

Which is good, since the deadline to turn it in to SCBWI was fast approaching . .

Lovesick

Hopefully Valentine's Day didn't make you too lovesick this year like this poor pig. Perhaps he needs to reevaluate what he loves most?

This is my submission for SVSLearn's monthly contest, the prompt being "Love."

Reading surprise!

Here's my latest girl and bear illustration (I'm working on a series of them). It might need a few days of simmer to see what could improve it, but here's the first completion. Since I love a little bit of messy, I'm working toward that here with my choice of textures. Some day I hope to heighten that messy feel in my work, but I think I'm getting closer.

This illustration started out with a small thumbnail where I worked out composition and value. Next, I enlarged it so I could trace over it on my lightbox before scanning it into Painter to do the rest.

For this illustration, I utilized an off-white/yellow underpainting. I really like the mood it created. And, like in my previous illustration (see last blog post), I pushed to create a focal point using value, shadow, and light. I think it's working. Perhaps it still needs a little more contrast? What do you think?

Emerging from My Chrysalis

I've been a social hermit for more than a month. But lest you tut your tongue and warn that my life's been a-fritterin', I've actually been incubating and metamorphing inside an art school chrysalis. I feel like I'm at the point in a movie where the heroin emerges after a training, soul-searching hiatus with superhuman powers. I hope.

Now don't roll your eyeballs when I mention SVSLearn.com yet again. No doubt my husband is ready to move on from my constant info-dump about 30/3 rules, inclusion shadows, spotting bean shapes and all sorts of other high-fallutins. But that team knows its stuff and generously shares it with the masses for a very small cost. (And no, they aren't paying me to say this.) I finally understand why I've felt dissatisfied about some of my work and what I need to do to improve it. Now it's time to apply what I've learned. Future posts will likely refer to much of this new knowledge in my constant quest to achieve better results.

Starting with the illustration above. Here, I've worked to create a focal point using light and shadow more effectively. I know that this boy would stand out more with a colder, darker background. But since I wanted to keep it light since the (unfortunately-true-for-my-family) subject matter is rather lighthearted, I tried not to overdo it. What do you think? Does it work?