Muscial Constellations

Don't ask ... I have no idea.  I just went where the paint and pastels took me :)

IF Theme: "Patterns"

I started keeping a small sketchbook with me to work through color theory and ideas.   This was an exercise to use color and pattern to express the seasons.

IF THEME - "RESOLVE"

(digital painting)
This week's theme was good practice for developing another another character in the "Pinky" story. This is Shelly, Pinky's big sister.

Illustration Friday - "Clandestine"

(click on image to see full size)

Again, this is a bit of a stretch for the IF theme, but I think it kinda works. It's the title page for my Dummy Book (title is self-evident). I did the rough scketch and painting on the tiny dummy book I made and then refined it in Painter.

Illustration Friday Theme - "Voice"

ROOOOO RIS IT????!

Even though this was an earlier post I think it kinda works for the "voice" theme at Illustration Friday :)

Pretend/Rambunctious

Digital Painting with Corel Painter IX

I originally meant to post this on Illustration Friday under the "pretend" theme, but I didn't finish it in time. It's from my story "Pinky and the Blue Speckled Butterfly." It seems to work (more or less) for this Illustration Friday theme too.

Illustration Friday: "The Blues"

...and the sea rolled ashore

and consumed her.

Illustration Friday: "Wedding" (The Lady & Lord Xoc)

Acrylic & Incised Modeling Paste on Illustration Board
(click to enlarge)

This is inspired from a Maya relief at Chichen Itza of the Lord & Lady Xoc, from the 9th century I think. When a Lord & Lady married they made a sacrifice to the gods of their own blood. There are some more graphic depictions of self-blood letting but I chose to focus on this more "genteel" image, so to speak.

Illustration Friday - "Missing"

digial painting

this is an intuitive response to this week's IF theme of "Missing"

Pinky & the Blue-Freckled Butterfly

"Pinky & the Blue-Freckled Butterfly"
acrylic on canvas
6.75" x 9.25

This is cropped from a full spread I'm developing for my children's book titled "Pinky & the Blue Freckled Butterfly." I like this style of illustration, but I'm not sure if I can sustain it for the whole book. An alternative style might be watercolor. The whimsy of watercolor might better match the whimsy of the story. I am going to try one more spead in this style to see how it works. If it doesn't, I'll go to watercolor -- with some trepidation, since it is much more difficult than acrylic.

Illustration Friday - Moon

"Ixmucane"
acrylic on canvas board
(cropped)

Playing with Paint(er) - foray into digital art

I just bought Painter IX.5 and have started playing around with different digital media. It's great fun and you don't have to clean up afterwords ;).... Once unexpected result is that it re-inforced the viseral impulse to work with real/traditional media. I'd be interested in hearing other artists experience with digital media.

Rebecca Thornburgh's Creative Process

Here is another wonderfully generous author/illustrator who shares her creative process
Click on either illustration to go to see her full process.

CALL FOR FIRST TIME CHILDREN'S AUTHORS ILLUSTRATORS

Alice Pope, he author of the annual "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market," has created a great blog . She is looking for first time (published) authors/illustrators to be profiled in her upcoming edition. Check out "call for first time authors" entry as well as her entire blog, which has some great resources as well.

Cheers

the photoshop experiment: Jesse's Song

the photoshop experiment: Jesse's Song
Cory Godbey is a wonderful and generous illustrator who shares step-by-step processess for using traditional media and photoshop for creating really lovely work. Must see for all us "traditional" (i.e. old) artists who are wondering about the possibilities for art in the digital age!

The Outlaw: Varjak Paw

I just read the sequel to "Varjak Paw" (see review below). It was as interesting and fun as the first one. This second book was even darker than the first, all about gang warfare, leadership and the underbelly of the city -- literally. The illustrations are very cool, very edgy, done by Dave McKean. Below are the illustrations from the first book:

The illustrations from the second book are darker and funkier than the first book. Definitely worth looking at to see the possibilities for creating illustrated books for older readers.

Children's Books Reviews

I listen to recorded children's books while I paint. Not only do I accomplish two things at once, but it keeps me engaged in thinking both visually and textually. This week I listened to three lovely short novels for children ages 9 and up. The first two are Newberry Medel winners and the third is just sheer fun.
Missing May
Cynthia Rylant's voice of Summer, the 11 year-old West Virginian protagonist, is so authentic. She is an adopted girl morning the loss of her adoptive mother. This is a "quest" story where most of the "journey" is an internal transformation of both herself and her adoptive father. The characters are fragile, funny and resilient. The recorded version is read by Frances McDormand, who absolutely brings the story to life! Also, a number of people have created some very thoughful "lesson plans" for this book.
Bridge to Tarabithia A lovely book about friendship and imagination between a young boy and girl in rural Virginia in the 70s. The story brought me to tears. Paterson really touches on the emotional life of the child.
Varjak Paw This book is just sheer fun! It is a kind of "Kung Fu - Karate Kid" for cats. Narrator George Guidall's interpretation is marvelous. I can't wait until the next recorded version comes out!! I do want to check out the written version however, since it is also illustrated in the style of a graphic novel ;)

David Wiesner's Creative Process

David Wiesner, author/illustrator of Tuesday, the innovative Picture Book, shares his creative process here. Very cool, step by step demonstration of how he goes from inspiration to dummy book to full spread and publicaiton. Definitely worth a look

IF- "PORTRAIT"

This is a new character I am trying to develop, so in a sense she is a 'portrait" for Illustration Friday ;) Her working name is "Lila," but I would love to hear suggestions for naming her!




Color Pencil on Paper
(15"x5")

Click to enlarge

Monster (in Color)

This is the second rendering of the "monster" (see below). This time I painted over the scrtachboard with acrylic glaze... just an experiment. This was fun to do. I think I might try some more like this ;)