Illustration Friday: WOOL!

Did this week's early for once! This one was a fun one, though taking clothes from a Goodwill box for a snowman could be seen as a bit controversial.

Illustration Friday: STORM

I'm guessing a lot of entries this week will be snow related! Mine is inspired by my comfortable cat, who always sees the opportunities in something soft and sleep-worthy. Also, the feeling of being snug and safe inside while the outdoors is transforming into an arctic landscape.

Character Mentor: a good read!

Here's a good book about character illustration that I've been reading lately, Character Mentor. It's been a great help as I try to make my illustration characters seem more alive. Things like tilting the head, twisting the body, ways to make characters look less stiff. I am still absorbing it, and there's lots I haven't quite gotten to yet (which way do clothes fall?) but it's been a real help! It's a nice companion to Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life.

Illustration Friday - WHEEL!

This one was finished under the wire! The boy has kind of a giant head, the whole unicycle is a little awkward, but I had fun drawing it!

Leaning side to side to keep his balance was part of staying upright, and Alowishus finally made it all the way up and down the driveway without stopping once. Ta daaa!

Illustration Friday -- MYTH

Very rushed and struggled with it this week -- hope I got it in under the wire!

Illustration Friday -- Ocean

This week's Illustration Friday challenge OCEAN coincided with my big brother's birthday. He and I used to rock together in the living room rocking chair and yell out, "Ship, Ships Ahoy!!!"-- pretending we were on the ocean. I have no idea if that comes across in the image, but it was such a great memory I wanted to try to portray it. Happy Birthday, Matt! Ships Ahoy!

Norman Rockwell Museum

We took a trip to the Berkshires that included a stop at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, and the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Both museums were full of interesting and inspiring images and stories. At the Eric Carle, an exhibit of Garth Williams' process work and final illustrations for Charlotte's Web was my favorite, at Norman Rockwell, a chance to sketch from his large original paintings was a great way to appreciate the compositions.

Below is a sketch I did of Norman Rockwell's "Football Hero" and photos (not taken by me) of the museum.

Illustration Friday: NEW!

Simon delighted in the feel and shine of his new skin, why had it taken him so long to shed the old one? He couldn't wait to show everyone.

Illustration Friday: SNOW!

Hooray for snow! After you fall off the sled, it's so great to just lie there in a pile, snow slowly sinking into your clothes, watching and listening to the snow...

(Maybe I gotta stop working right at the deadline!!! I got this IF post done in time, but wish I had more time to correct some things -- the girl's face needs some work, and the snow scene needs a bit of adjusting so it really looks like the boy's head is in the snow and there's an up-close pile.)

Tomie dePaola Illustration Competition

Here is my entry into the SCBWI Tomie dePaola illustration competition, illustrating a passage from the book, The Yearling, a beautiful and sad story written in the 1930s about a boy and a deer in rural Florida. 

I've been wanting to submit to this competition for a while, and I'm excited to have finished the piece!

Illustration Friday: Stretch

Illustration Friday: WHISKERS

WHISKERS SUPPORT GROUP (WSG)

I look at my cat, who seems to have whiskers EVERYWHERE: nose, ear, eye; so many fine little whiskers, it's very funny to focus on them. So many animals use them to feel their way through the underbrush, underwater, under the sofa. Maybe they meet every month or so for a Whiskers Support Group, to discuss the ins and outs of whiskers: getting them caught in things, losing them, narrowly escaping danger because of them....

Illustration Friday: Zoom

Kind of rushed this one to have it ready this week, but had fun doing it! The moment was inspired by a time a few years ago at a birthday party when my brother was blowing up balloons, letting them go and watching them fly all over the dining room. It was astonishingly hysterically funny!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

First holiday cookies of the season

This small 5x5 painting was inspired by a painting I saw at an art opening on Saturday, and by holiday cookies I bought for Thanksgiving. I used gouache, which I haven't used since art school, and found it to be a lot more fun that it had seemed back then!

Illustration Friday - TREE

This week's topic, TREE, made me think of the moment before you let go when you are climbing back down a tree -- you're looking down, your brain is calculating the amount of pain it might be to jump from this far -- and you're stretching as long as you can to shorten the distance. Is it worth it?

Illustration Friday -- SHY

This week's Illustration Friday was a challenge! My interpretation of shy is the feeling of joy at the election's outcome while also feeling a sort of shyness about expressing my political views. I'm not sure if it works, but I am so glad to have completed three IF's in a row! Thanks to IF friends and Joe for their encouragement :)

Illustration Friday: Haunt!

Two in a row for Illustration Friday entries! This week's, Haunt, brought many ideas, and the one I liked the best was this image of being haunted by worries at night. While working on it, I heard a piece of the beautiful Men at Work song, Overkill: "Ghosts appear and fade away." It fit perfectly.

Raccoons!

Here are some sketches from a new story idea about....raccoons!

Sky -- Illustration Friday

I am excited to be back doing Illustration Friday challenges after a little while away! This week's challenge is "Sky," a great topic, full of possibilities! Some weeks I struggle and struggle to come up with an idea, this week's came pretty quickly: a girl leaning her ladder on the clouds and discovering the strange water-like quality of the sky. I'm not crazy about the execution -- sketchy and quickly colored in Photoshop -- but I am so happy to have an entry. Thanks to Creations by Mit for her encouragement!

The Tarot Card Collective

Here is my mostly completed painting for a group show with the Tarot Card Collective, a group of 22 artists in the Lowell area. We each picked a card from a deck of the Major Arcana cards to interpret in our own style and medium. I picked card number 2, The High Priestess.

My painting will be in a one-night group show in Lowell on Halloween.

Painting this piece was a great process to go through; I got a lot of helpful feedback that helped me add and develop details that really made the image more interesting to look at. I will remember and use the advice going forward! 

A little about The High Priestess: she represents looking within to find answers when struggling with a decision. She sits, representing stability, and is between a black and white column, which represent good and evil, opposing forces at work. She holds scrolls which contain all the knowledge you will need, and holds the crescent moon, a symbol of night and intuition. The curtain with pomegranates behind her blocks a view of the sea, hinting at the vastness of knowledge beyond this present decision. She wears the crown of Isis, also a waxing, full and waning moon, symbolic of night and intuition. I think she is a good card to get, a positive and guiding force, one that asks us to slow down and listen intently to ourselves for answers we are seeking.

My intent in the painting was to make an approachable Priestess, instead of a dark or haunting one. Someone who is a little uncertain herself, but still playing the role she has been asked to play.