SkADaMo 2013 Day 15

Still trying to keep up with the sketch a day! Whew! This one was inspired by... I started out at scarecrows, but ended up at stuffing socks in your sleeves to pretend you are a muscle amazon! Maybe trying to do all these image and idea challenges and going to groups, keeping up with conferences, internet critiques has me feeling like I am in a fake it till you make it/I'm goin' for it! mode. :) Check out other sketchers here.

SkADaMo 2013 Day 13

Trying to get into the sketch-a -DAY rhythm, but starting out every other day! Today's sketch is inspired by fellow SkADaMo-ers, who you can see here, as well as by watching robins and starlings flock to the last food around -- fall berries -- as they delicately pluck red fruit from cold branches.

SkADaMo 2013 Day 11

This year, I am participating in the PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) where you are challenged to come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. In conjunction, the amazing Linda Silvestri is running SkADaMo (Sketch a Day a Month) and I'm late in starting, but giving it a go!!

Here's Linda's blog with links to other participants to check out other sketchers!

And here's my first sketch -- working with the Illustration Friday theme of Energy. I wanted to try to look at dark energy -- how you can feel, even across a room, when someone is in a baaaaad mood. Dark squiggle homage to illustrator Ben Clanton!

Illustration Friday: ENTANGLED

This week's Illustration Friday is ENTANGLED. It's inspired by many fall trips to farms with mischievous goats. Last week, we visited a farm and the goats were eating the falling oak leaves!

Book Dummy!

I've been working on a book dummy for critique at the NESCBWI Illustrator's Symposium on Nov. 2. Getting it ready was like doing 15 Illustration Friday images all in 3 or 4 sittings. It's not perfect, the story needs MUCH revising, but I am happy that I finally have a dummy ready to show! Perhaps the first of 2 dozen or so before I really get it right, but it feels great to be starting. Here's a spread from later in the story, when Shelby and Morgan are headed home.
I'll be meeting with Candlewick Press editor Liz Bicknell, who worked with Jon Klassen on his NYX bestselling book "I Want My Hat Back", so it's exciting to be getting criticism and advice from someone with lots of experience and success.

Lowell Open Studios 2013

This weekend is Lowell Open Studios, and I've been getting some prints ready to sell at the city-wide art extravaganza. I'm trying out my Square for the first time, too, and hope to make some sales. Really, though, it's been nice going back over a year's worth of images and seeing where I was last year with my work and where I'm at now. Nice time to reflect as well as chat with visitors. 

Picture Book Month, coming up!!

This is the first year I've been aware that November is Picture Book Month!!! Every day during November, on the Picture Book Month site, a different picture book creator will share their insights on picture books! The calendar of authors is above, illustrated by the amazingly prolific Elizabeth Dulemba.
In conjunction with this, children's book author Tara Lazar has started Picture Book Idea Month, where you are challenged to come up with 30 book ideas in 30 days! Registration begins in late October, I am going to do it this year :)

Illustrator Bob Daly

Have been looking at the illustrations of Bob Daly, after seeing his work today in the Boston Globe. His sweet, simple characters have great design, and show a lot of emotion and life. His child characters seem to always convey creativity and ingenuity and a sense of self-directedness, while his animal characters are delightful as companions or on their own.
His work made me instantly think of the work of classic Disney artist Mary Blair.

Shelby and Morgan....in color!

This is a mostly finished first spread for the children's book I am working on. It's been strange not posting Illustration Fridays for the past several weeks while I am working on the book, but rewarding to spend a little extra time developing the images and working towards something I can send out to publishers and use for my portfolio. Next week: black and white image for spread #2!

Shelby and Morgan

This sketch is from a book dummy I am working on, tentatively titled 'Shelby and Morgan,' about a girl who meets a creature in a strange land and helps it find its way home. Color to come next week!!

Illustration Friday: HYBRID

This week's Illustration Friday theme is HYBRID! It seemed to have multiple influences -- the biggest, of course, being my cat Wanda, and how I do all kinds of cat things to relate to her. I'm not sure she really believes I'm another cat, but she humors me. Good kitty!

Illustration Friday: ROBOT

This week's Illustration Friday topic is ROBOT! Not my best effort this week, but it was very inspired by my niece who used to tape herself up in large cardboard boxes and walk around. She also was a genius with paper -- she made an iPhone once out of paper and tape, it even had a detachable stylus and microphone!  

Illustration Friday: TRAVEL

This week's topic was TRAVEL. I combined the topic with creating an image from a book idea I am noodling.

Illustration Friday: PROTEST

This week's Illustration Friday theme is PROTEST. Perhaps because I took a week off for vacation, this one was a struggle!
Seymour decided once an for all to be a vegetarian. No more ants!

Illustration Friday: SURVEILLANCE

This week's topic is SURVEILLANCE. The image was inspired by a creepy new surveillance camera at work that is fun to think about subverting in some way, and, I am sure, Maurice Sendak's Max, growling with the beasts in Where the Wild Things Are.

Sketching process for "WORN"

Here is the sketch progression for this week's Illustration Friday: WORN image. 

Illustration Friday: WORN

This week's topic was WORN. The image was inspired by watching my niece and nephew this weekend and seeing how close kids sit to each other. Also, by how we tend to share common issues -- here's my worn out knee; oh, don't feel bad, look at my elbow hole! -- to try and lift each other up.

Illustration Friday: CHILDREN

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "Children," and though it felt rushed and not quite finished, I had fun coming up with some kid/play scenarios and remembering how unbelievably fun it was to cover someone's eyes with your hands!! I've been trying to focus a bit on sidekicks, so I tried to pair the kids up.

I was reading an article this week on the importance of physical play and how through play, kids are constantly trying out ways of interacting with the world and each other that will inform their adult lives. It's not just goofing off! (though perhaps a little of it is!)

Book Review: Tim's Big Move

Tim's Big Move, by Anke Wagner and Eva Eriksson, is about the fears of starting something new, as seen through the eyes of Tim's stuffed animal dog, Pico. When Tim's family gets ready to move to a new town, Pico is afraid that he will be left behind. As he watches Tim pack, Pico's anxiety grows. The clouds finally clear when Pico is able to find his place in their new home.

The story brilliantly projects a child's fears onto a stuffed animal, abstracting them to make them easier to relate to and feel. 

The illustrations are drawn in lovely, soft colored pencil, a comforting presence to help with Pico's difficult feelings. Pico's facial expressions, from worry to dejection to joy, are beautifully and simply rendered. The color palette is a quiet but positive palette, with lots of yellows and greens, the colors of both discomfort and growth. 

Illustration Friday: SWEET

This week's Illustration Friday theme is SWEET. The image is inspired by lots of chocolate chip cookie baking when I was younger, and the amazing goldmine of sweetness of the electric mixer beaters.