cross-post! my little girl's first birthday invitation

i just finished illustrating and designing our daughter's first birthday invitation. i did the illustration rather large, so i'm actually going to hang it for her in our apartment, and then switch it out each year with her new birthday illo.

i hope you enjoy it!

second baby illustration -- little boy blue

to welcome a new little boy into the girl-laden lot, i made a piece for mr. spenser everett that was based on little boy blue. again, i accomplished it all on my wacom cintiq, and i documented a bit of the process below.

i started out with a brown grounding in the background to work off of, just as i would a painting. i wrote out the colors that i wanted in my sketch layer, and then quickly blocked them out in my painting layer so that everything could come together faster.

as you can see, i started to lay in the dark details, like these on the house, after i had layed in the majority of the basic colors. my "brush" technique was influenced by this tutorial from digital arts online.

i started to actually lay in the brighter color details after that.

as you can see, the sketch layer remained available to me to work from as i moved forward in the project. i tried to bring all areas together at the same time so that it was a united piece. the last this i had to address as of this point was the boy himself.

when the sketch level was hidden, you can see the level of completion in the overall piece, and how the details had yet to be added to the boy.

and the piece is complete! i'm really happy with how this turned out. i hope you enjoyed seeing the steps in the process! it's good to know that you can still get a fulfilling "painting" experience when you cannot use paints at the moment. its definitely not the same as a palette, a brush, and my pigments, but it's the next best thing.

baby gift #1 - mary mary quite contrary

there are an awful lot of babies in our lives right now! we're meeting new little people every day, and getting ready for the arrival of others. i decided to make a few gifts last week for some very special babies in my life.

first, there is the gift for my friend kelly's daughter-to-be, kayla aubrey. kelly is due in january (the day before anna's bday), and her shower was saturday the 24th. i decided to go to nursery rhymes for inspiration, and decided on "mary, mary, quite contrary", as kelly is an avid gardener.


the piece was started and completed on my cintiq screen, since i still haven't figured out how best to paint in the house without harming anna with the fumes. but as i've learned, i can get the feeling of painting really easily with my cintiq -- no wet paint and brush, unfortunately, but otherwise it's pretty close.

i went with a very fantastical version of the nursery rhyme, as i found out what the rhyme really was about (bloody mary!) and i had to move as far from that as possible.

kelly seemed to love it! i really hope she did.

enjoy!

the next installment...

can you tell where i'm going yet? probably not...

i'm back... with a new project

hello all!

well, i've worked out a schedule for my days -- how i will conduct myself, take care of anna, and get work done, all at the same time! sound impossible? yes, well, near impossible. but... the schedule helps keep me in line.

so, to that end, i'm working on a new project for an ongoing project. did i lose you there? sorry... i've been working on my promo kit, and i wanted to do a new pattern for it. i'm not going to reveal my plan for the pattern yet, but i did want to start posting up my drawings on here.

so here goes... first drawing is below. enjoy!

and it's done.

here's the finished product -- the lollipop girl with the candy cane arms and legs. i would have liked to have done more to it, and tied more of the color from the lollipop into her body, but i hit the deadline. i hope you enjoy it!

progress -- lollipop girl

just wanted to post my progress on the lollipop girl illustration. i still have to make her body, complete with candy cane arms and legs. =D


just wanted to post my progress on the lollipop girl illustration.

current inspiration

my illustration assignment right now is a private commission, but it's for an original children's story that the author wrote for her daughter. it's actually quite tricky -- i have to draw/paint a lollipop girl! how to make the rainbow stripes in the lollipop work for her face? tough work.

so here is some of my major inspiration at the moment, the greatest source being david shannon's "a bad case of stripes."

first sketch for new illo

i'm doing an illustration for a child's story. it's a private commission. but i thought i would post the progress on here.

so above is the first sketch of a little girl's face. she will soon become a lollipop girl!

work for free? not even for google.

apparently, google recently requested from a number of well-known illustrators that they do a piece for their web browser. they would obviously get great exposure. the caveat? they would have to contribute to this for free.

and for this, my fellow artists, i salute you.

all too often, illustration and other artwork is looked upon as a free commodity. as though we just work for fun, not for pay. you will hear this from the illustration community over and over again. and it's the sad truth. and of course, as joe ciardiello is quoted as saying in the ny times article, google is worth billions of dollars. and a company like that can't even bother paying for work? come on.

on the list of over a dozen artists who refused this request are gary taxali, melinda beck, and the aforementioned joe ciardiello. according to google, however, there are dozens more that accepted the request.

well, google, you didn't ask me. so i didn't have the privilege of turning you down. i may not be melinda beck, but even i'm worth more than nothing.

not living up to my commitments!

in a discussion on the HOWforums, i realized that i'm not keeping up with my drawing and illustration the way i wanted to. especially since i created this blog as a portal for my illustrations to be done once a week. ugh! life with a new baby is a lot more busy than i envisioned -- especially since my gorgeous girl doesn't like to sleep during the day. there are so many exciting things in the world for her to stay up for!

anyway, i'm putting it out there that i'm going to try harder. i miss my artwork.

where the wild things are

i cannot believe i haven't posted on here since october! life took over, especially with my new little girl in tow everywhere i go! but i'm back, and excited for my new post.

i have always loved illustrated children's books. i had my own collection for a while there, and anna's arrival has brought more of an excuse to purchase even more. while i have several favorites, one classic that will always be at the top of the list is "where the wild things are."


and now, they're bringing the book to life! to be released october 16, maurice sendak's tale will be on the big screen.






from the trailer and the photos released so far, it seems as though they are taking great care and consideration to bring the characters to fruition as close to the illustrations as possible. it truly looks like a beautiful film. hopefully the script will live up to the images.

movie stills courtesy of warner bros.