Justine Siegal, Baseball for All

Here is a sketch for a book idea about Justine Siegal, the first woman to pitch batting practice in the Major Leagues. She pitched to the Cleveland Indians, among others, in 2011, and coaches the minor league's Brockton Rox. She has a great and inspiring story, and has created a hugely successful non-profit, Baseball for All, to help others be able to play, in her words, "the greatest game on earth."

The Taz: Highlights from Children's Book conference (NESCBWI)

I recently attended the New England Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators conference in Springfield, MA. It was my first time going to the conference, and it was a genuinely great and enriching experience. I went for one of the days and took 3 workshops by accomplished illustrators and writers: Character Design with Kelly Light, Writing for Illustrators with Mary Brigid Barrett, and Essentials of a Picture Book Dummy with Dan Yaccarino.

Each of the talks had a rich amount of experience and enthusiasm behind them, and I soaked up not only the speakers' tips and ideas, but also being in the presence of many other interested, motivated artists.

Highlights from each talk: Kelly Light doing her Tasmanian Devil impression while encouraging us all to physically do and feel all the things we want to draw our character doing. Also, "Draw the idea, not the pose; draw the action, not the anatomy." She also recommended 2 books: Drawn to Life, the Walt Stanchfield lectures, Volumes 1 and 2; 20 years of talks given to Disney animators.

Mary Brigid Barrett's class on writing for illustrators was very visual, engaging, and included this interesting tip about writing: "Don't use adverbs or adjectives, make your verbs VERY specific. Your character shouldn't walk slowly, she should PLOD."

Dan Yaccarino's talk was supposed to be about laying out a picture book dummy, but it was more a look at his work and an analysis of picture book structure. "Keep it simple: the protagonist trying to get what they want, with obstacles along the way, is the story." He gave a list of classics to read including:

Curious George
Harry the Dirty Dog
Amelia Bedelia
Blueberries for Sal
Cat in the Hat
Petunia
Madeline
Ferdinand
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Swimmy
anything by William Steig

Hitched

I'm so glad I got an entry together for this week's Illustration Friday theme!
I've been seeing lots of spring babies around (mostly ducks and goslings)
so I was inspired. :)

Vocal

Figure class with Chelsey Wood

This sketch is from a figure class I took with Chelsey Wood at the Essex Art Center this past Sunday. It was a great class, well-structured and pretty rigorous.

Duck

Goose Story

I sold a print of the "Goose" this weekend at Open Studios. The woman who bought it said it reminded her of the geese her father raised and then went on to tell me a great story about a flock of Canadian geese who once "visited" their domestic geese. When the flock had finished its visit, one Canadian goose stayed behind; she had "fallen in love" with one of the male domestic geese. "He was in love, too," the woman said, "and their chick was a little patchwork of Canadian and gray geese features: Canadian goose around the eyes and little patches of grey on its back."

Replacement sharpener blades!

Have found an answer to a longstanding, tangential question -- why can't I get replacement blades for pencil sharpeners instead of always buying a complete new sharpener? Finally came across replacement blades at Art Supply Wholesale in Beverly, MA.

Mary Reaves Uhles

Inspired by Mary Reaves Uhles' dynamic work -- the characters are fun, points of view are dramatic, page design looks effortlessly fantastic.
http://www.maryuhles.com/portfolios/childrens_illustrations

Surplus / Illustration Friday: Fluid

Here's my first attempt at doing a watercolor sketch instead of colored pencil. Needs brighter bolder colors, I think, some more punch, but it was great to try.

Skatey Smurf

Small, 5x7 quick painting from a box of "old things" my parents foisted on me recently.

Snail

Sketch for Book Project

This is a from a book project I am working on. My goal is to have 12 black and white sketches for each of the spreads done by the end of March. One a week.

Started a Sculpey Model

I am working on black and white sketches for a book project. Reading David Weisner's blog and illustrator Blythe Russo's blog, I thought I would try making a model of the beaver character the story is about (Clara) to help me draw her in different poses. I have started a sculpey model, and already used it as reference and found it helpful.  (see before/after sketches below)

Character sketch

This is a character sketch for a book project I'm working on.

Solar panels, rock and tree

Illustration Friday: Sight

Inspired by, or coinciding with, a quote from Miranda July's book: ""It’s always embarrassing to pin a tail onto thin air, nowhere near the donkey. It might be wrong, it sure looks like it is — but then again, maybe the donkey’s in the wrong place, or there are two donkeys, and the tail just got there first."

Heights

Occupy Boston

Last week, I was in Boston for the first day of Grand Jury duty.  I went to see the Occupy Boston group in Dewey Square in the pouring rain and was inspired to do this quick sketch on the train ride home.

Suzanne