Daily Faces 3
Sketches
Daily Faces 2
More daily faces for you! Remember I’m working on expression with the least bit of erasing possible, so some will be good.. and some won’t!
Daily Faces
Recently as I was looking at some of the amazingly talented artists out there I became jealous. Hey, I’ll readily admit that sometimes I dream I’m a famous illustrator and I drool over the beautiful spreads in the Caldecott Award Books. But then I wipe off the pages and remember I have something to offer too! In this specific case I think my jealousy was a good thing because it motivated me to action. I was noticing how the expressions of the characters seemed very natural. With only a few lines this illustrator was able to capture the essence of the emotion and portray it with ease. Some days my characters expressions come very naturally, other days I fight with the eraser until one of us wins (usually the eraser). So, I decided I’d teach myself to have natural and easy facial expressions on ALL my characters, cause it’s that easy right? My plan is to draw a face a day for a whole year or until I stop throwing my eraser. I’ll post them here once a week for everyone to see. Some will be total failures, some will be amazing successes, but my goal is to use an eraser as little as possible and grow as an artist in the process. And at the end of my little experiment who knows, I just might hear a Caldecott calling my name…
Illustration Friday “Grounded”
As part of my goals for the new year I’ve decided to participate in some of the amazing groups and competitions that exist in this big wide world. One of them being Illustration friday (Illustration friday). This week’s topic is “grounded”. After sketching a few ideas I dismissed the most obvious (although I liked a few of the sketches themselves) and chose one that was a little off the beaten path. Here’s one of the sketches I didn’t choose but I thought you all might enjoy seeing anyway!
Jasper Moving Along
My illustrations for the book are moving along slowly but surely. I thought you might like to see a few of the finished products!
Meet Jasper
My fairy tale illustration project was recently sidetracked as a result of a book contract that I recently received entitled “Jasper Finds a New Home”. Jasper is a warty little toad whose home is ruined during an oil spill. He and his new friends need to learn what oil is, seek help and find a new place to live. I thought I’d give you all a little sneak peek into my sketches for the book dummy and introduce you to Jasper and a few of his friends! (“Jasper Finds a New Home” is scheduled to be published Winter 2012 by Folded Leaves Publishing)
The Stars in the Sky
My search for a fairy tale to illustrate finally ended with a beautiful old English folk tale titled “The Stars in the Sky”. The tale is about a young girl who wanted nothing to play with but the stars in the sky, so one evening she goes seeking the stars. When she comes to a dam, she sees the stars shining in the water and attempts to catch one, but when they keep slipping through her fingers she travels on …
The tale continues but I wanted to share some of my initial sketches as the story and illustrations begin to take shape.
Little Stories
Just a little happy daydreaming today while I sketch…
Boys Will Be Boys
As I continue to work on fairy tale and fable ideas, in the mean time I decided to do an illustration that hits a little closer to home. I received many comments and smiles from my previously posted bathroom sketch so I decided to push the drawing further and see what would become of my little boy. As I continued to sketch, the bathroom took on a life of its own. A few great comments from my critique group added to the general chaos of the scene, and before I knew it the little guy had a personality and world that fit his little smirk perfectly!
Back to the Drawing Board
After finishing work on my pandas last week I found myself wondering what was next on my artistic agenda. So in search of a great idea I sat down with a pile of fables and fairy tales, my sketchbook and some York Peppermint patties (since you always need a little chocolate to really get the artistic wheels turning!). I’m still not sure where this creative journey will take me but in the meantime I have a handful of fun and a mouthful of treats, but totally unrelated sketches to show for it…
