Updated illustration for Animal Birthday Party

This is probably the 3rd rendering of this idea. It is amazing how much perspective you can gain from taking a break and coming back with a renewed and fresh view on things. I can say that 2010 was a growth year for me. I really struggled with my style. As much as I thought I had it figured out, I still felt the line weight and eyes were a bit forced and made the illustrations more stiff. Somewhere between the pencil and the inking, I was loosing the fluid feel of the drawing. My thoughts were confirmed when I had a very candid email exchange with an agent that represents very accomplished illustrators.

I have tweaked some of my past illustrations to make this small modification while keeping all the work consistent. I've gone back to working only with pencil and skipping the inking process. As of today, I am quite pleased with the work. Of course, that won't last for ever since it is only natural to keep evolving and changing as an artist.

I'll post some of the other revisions later this week.

Just added to my web site

This is another image that I just finished and added to my portfolio web site. I am getting ready to start another project, so I won't be posting for a little while. I hope you enjoy this image until my next post...

RE-WORKED ILLUSTRATION

Old image


New Image


THANK YOU! I want to start this post by thanking the people that always seem to know when I need some encouragement and always know exactly what to say. I want to say thank you for caring and for taking the time to reach out. I really appreciate it!!!

The holiday season has been officially kicked off at our house, and that usually means that I'll be running around like a chicken without a head until the end of the year!

I wanted to share with you the re-make of one of my favorite illustrations. I had created and animal party a while back and really enjoyed all the characters in it. However, it no longer matched my current style and I had to pull it out of my portfolio. I decided to just re-do it with my new style and I have to say, I'm very pleased with the results.

What do you think?

IF: WISE

I would say these kids are WISE for choosing to play outside and enjoy a beautiful day instead of sitting all afternoon playing video games. At least that what I would want my kids to do .... and they do for the most part!

I posted the sketch for this painting a week or so ago and here it is completed. I am pleased with the results! This was a larger piece and I had to scan it in pieces and then assemble it in Photoshop.

Below is a closer view of one area:

Sketch :: Kids Running

This is a work in progress. I am not sure yet if I will paint it or not.  As I look at my portfolio I see that I may need more 'action' pieces, and this may be one that I include. I also need some adults. I'm realizing that most of my work is children... I guess I just love children!

I have one character study, but that may be the next thing I tackle ... a character study of an animal...maybe...

I've had a ton of ideas and not enough time! I've been writing my ideas down, not even having the time to sketch them. I guess it's better to have ideas, than to be wondering what to do next, right?

Illustration Friday: Memories

Work in Progress...

This past two weeks I've been reminded that my time is not my own. We are back to school and I am realizing how little time I will have left every week to devote for my art. I enjoyed all of the extra time I had over the summer and had a lot of fun navigating to other blogs and learning about other artists. I am not sure how much time I will have during this school year, but I will try my best to produce one piece a week and to post once a week. I hardly had any time to visit some of my favorite blogs this week. My Google reader is about to explode with 'unread' entries!

Anyway, I didn't get too far this week, but I was experimenting again. New paper (cold press water color paper), gouache and ANIMALS! I was really intimidated trying out animals as main characters. I think last time I really drew an animal with bodies and everything was back in elementary school. I've always been into people mostly. 

I think these characters look cute. I'm not sure if original enough, but my kids really liked  them, and I enjoyed coming up with them. I thought the animal birthday party fit the 'memories' theme for IF.

My daughter has been painting a lot with me, and she wanted me to add her work to my blog, so I now have a corner on the left for my kids' art. Her favorite subject is horses!

I will be away for Labor Day weekend enjoying the family and some nice weather. I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday weekend, and I hope to catch up a bit with my blogs next week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall, Summer, Spring Sketches

Here are the sketches I worked on to showcase my style. I am doing these as an exercise, and if I like the outcome I may use them as promotional pieces. The idea is to keep the main composition the same with the tree framing the piece and kids and animals as the visual focus.

I have been in a bit of a funk creatively lately and I may take a break from the children characters and animals. As I said on my previous post, I am in the midst of finding a style that is marketable and quick to do while being true to myself. I am not sure where I stand on the style or quickness of things and I think I need to step away for a little while to get some perspective.

spring

summer

fall

In the mean time, I'll probably work on a piece I've been wanting to paint. We'll see how the week progresses.

Your thoughts and feedback are really welcomed!