New blog, new direction...

I invite you to follow me over to my new Blog at ArtsySoul.com There you can stay in touch with me and see my new artwork. I have taken my work into a whole new direction... Come over and check it out!

Owl, Ghost, Spider & Witch for Halloween. Free Coloring Page

I had the urge to share another FREE coloring page. Click on image to enlarge and print. Enjoy!

White owl

Sketching for fun!

Pumpkin, Cat and a Bat for Halloween. Free Coloring Page

It has been a while since my last post, but I wanted to share a new coloring page. Just click on the image to enlarge and print. Enjoy and have a safe Halloween!

Happy Holidays!!!

Illustration Friday: Stripes | Free Coloring Page

This is both my entry for Illustration Friday and a Free Coloring page. You may print it and color away!

If you have some time, stop by Once Upon A Sketch. We are a group of illustrators offering tips, news and other related industry information to our community.

FREE COLORING PAGE: GHOST

Just in time for Halloween. Enjoy this freebie!

Puss in boots, The movie: Trailer

Dreamworks is releasing their spin off Sherk film, Puss in Boots this weekend. I always find animated films fascinating. Even if the story is not great, I always admire the set design, character development, compositions, action moves, and so many other creative characteristics.  The special effects have gotten so much better over the years. I've seen some movies where I'm in awe over the details such as the hair, or wind, or feathers.


I'm sure I'll enjoy this next film...

October Mailer - Illustration Process

This is the second mailer we as a group created over at Once Upon A Sketch and the second time I create a video documenting my process. It still has not background sound, but I slowed it down a bit from my last one. I’m trying to keep them short. I still start all my drawings with pencil and paper and then scan the drawing and work from it. Sometimes I make adjustments in Photoshop by making some characters bigger or smaller, or moving them around to make the composition more interesting. The video shows how I take the final sketch and color it. I hope you enjoy the video.

And here’s a picture of the final piece.

Magician's Hat with Bunnies

Good old fashion colored pencils!

FREE COLORING PAGE: Leprechaun

Feeling lucky this week!

Click on the image to print and color. Enjoy!

*Please respect copyright. The pages above are approved for personal use only.

iPad, Adobe Ideas, Bamboo Stylus = Tips and Tricks

I recently discovered a new tool that is becoming my favorite tool to draw digitally, especially to create coloring pages.

I’ve had an iPad for over a year and in all honesty, I never used it much. It seemed to me as a larger version of the iPhone, and the iPhone is just easier to carry around.

I had heard about the various stylus for the iPad, and after reading a post on Dani Jones website, I decided to give it a try. I ordered the Bamboo Stylus from Wacom from Amazon.com for $30.00. I took 2 months to arrive because it was on back order.

Once the Bamboo Stylus arrived, I discovered a new love for the iPad. It felt so natural to drag and swipe with it. I downloaded Adobe Ideas for $4.99 and bought the layers add on for $.99. The software is so intuitive and easy to use. The stylus makes it so comfortable to draw and have that eye hand coordination that is not easy to get with the tablet on the computer. It was amazing how in less than 1 hour I had finished the drawing below. I should clarify, that it was more of an inking job, since I had brought in a sketch I had done a while back. It has an auto correct feature, so even if your strokes seem to go a little gagged, it auto corrects them and smoothes them out. You can vary the width of the pencil and eraser, play with opacity, change colors and zoom in and out. Yes, there are some limitations, but as far as creating a quick black and white graphic, it works great!

If you are wondering how to transfer files from and to the iPad, there’s another really cool tool/website called Dropbox. Once you create and account you can put files in a folder and share them with any computer/device. I downloaded the Dropbox app for the iPad and immediately had access to files in my folder. I then saved the images to the photo library in the iPad and then brought them in to Adobe ideas. The greatest feature is Adobe ideas’ own PDF export. Basically you email the file and it attaches the graphic as a fully editable PDF.

This is another drawing/ coloring sheet I created on Adobe ideas.

Adobe ideas will definitely increase my productivity and the iPad is now my new digital doodling/sketchbook tool.

Giraffe Digital Painting : Process Video

I have been talking with some fellow illustrators about recording some of our drawing sessions and posting them online for those curious to see how we work.

Well, I finally got around to it. Sorry, there's no sound to it. I'm not narrating my work for now. I'm not sure I'm ready to broadcast my voice yet. I hope you enjoy it.



and the final drawing...