Sketching for fun!

Illustration Friday: Disguise

It has been a while since I participated in Illustration Friday, but this week's topic fit perfectly with something I had just started working on. I hope you enjoy it!
Also check out my groups blog OnceUponASketch.

Illustration Friday - Remedy

Hopefully he'll feel better soon...

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a drawing my 8 year old made for her Valentine Cards.

Nothing like seeing your kids develop their own talent!

Enjoy your Valentine!

Illustration of girl playing with dog

This is another finished illustration from last week's drawing session.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: SPENT

Illustration Friday: Racing Thoughts

IF: SPOOKY

Here's an old 'spooky' Halloween image...

and here's a newer one that's not so spooky...

At the beach...

I know that summer is over, but I'm beginning to miss it.

Illustration Friday: MUDDY 2

I had another idea for muddy and decided to also doodle for fun. That’s the great thing about participating in Illustration Friday, all the drawings are personal and for fun. Now that my portfolio is somewhat ‘done’. I wanted to give myself a break by just drawing for fun.

On a separate note, I send out my first mailer of the year this week and it felt really good.

I have been very busy with graphic design and life in general so it has been difficult to keep up with this blog. Now that a few projects have been wrapped up. I will be sharing those projects with you here in the near future.

IF: MODIFY

I was so excited about this week's word because it applied to my current project. You could say it also applied to my last posted illustration with the robot too, since that one was an old sketch I modified. This week, I am doing another one of those 'before' and 'after' pictures. The before is actually a rework of a previous IF prompt 'rambunctious'. I liked the idea, but was never quite happy with the end result. It was time to MODIFY the old one and play around with composition, line, color and well...see for yourself. I'm quite happy with the outcome.

Hope you have a great week and don't forget to check out my contest.

BEFORE: (Acrylics on watercolor paper)

AFTER: (Pencil colored with Photoshop)

Going Away

This will be my last post for a while. I am taking a much-needed vacation to a far, far away place. All I can say is that I'll be surrounded by history and mythology. I hope to share some pictures when I come back in about three weeks or so. I will miss all of you. I will miss reading my favorite blogs and participating in Illustration Friday.

However, I am looking forward to all the history and ruins and museums and even caves. I am taking my new Moleskines and plan on sketching all of the time. I hope to share some of my drawings when I get back.

So for now, I’m signing out and closing shop!

What are you doing for fun this summer?

Illustration Friday: Worn as in Worn Out!

The first images that came to mind after reading the prompt were a worn shoe or shirt. However, after thinking a little more, I decided to go with the idea of someone worn out and in need of a vacation. I know I am! This charming old lady is certainly enjoying a much needed break by the beach.

I would still like to do the 'before' and show her in a more stressful 'worn-out' scenario and perhaps add some color, but for now, this will have to do.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

IF: DRIFTING

Here's a couple of images I've worked on this week:

She's making a list and she's checking it twice to make sure her potion tastes right.

I know, my mind is already drifting to Halloween time and we are just beginning our summer!

This boy is trying to keep his kite from drifting away

I guess it was a very productive week. Everything I've been working on, has been so involved, that it was fun to just work on quick spot illustrations.

Enjoy your weekend!

illustration Friday: BREEZY

"Milly loved to run across the field on a breezy day and feel the wind on her fur"

IF:PRETEND

I wasn't going to participate this week because I don't have time to make anything new and I didn't want to recycle an old illustration. Then I thought, 'what the heck' (This is my son's new phrase...I hear it about 50 times a day, and now I'm saying too)  Anyway, here it is...one of my witch series. This little girl loves to pretend she is a witch!

Have a great week everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

MONDAY ARTDAY: 1 Character, 4 panels

I started this character as an exercise for last week's Illustration Friday theme poof. The idea evolved from a sketch to a series of illustrations for a mini story. I have colored two of the illustrations, and may complete the other two. 

As part of my process for this study, I had to use reference material. I am not sure how many artists draw from memory, but I am on of those that needs to look at the subject for better accuracy, or things begin to look a little too weird. Even if the lines of the subject are very simplified, it still gets a little tricky for me with perspective and such. I wish I had the time to take a drawing class with live models. I think it would really help my drawing abilities. For now, I will keep working with my two live models….my children! They don’t seem to mind either!

Any feedback or comments are always welcomed!

Illustration Friday: POOF!

Read updates to this post below...

What do you know? I thought I would pass up this week’s challenge and tend to some other projects I have been putting in the back burner, but my mind kept taking me back to ‘poof’. So I started to sketch, and from the sketches I thought the idea lent itself for a book layout. It’s not really a spread, because it’s not one illustration that spans over two pages, which is something I have wanted to try out.

I went back to the drawing board and the writing pad. I am not claiming to be a writer, but I wanted to show text on the pages and I did not want to use dummy text as a placeholder. I wanted to show the same character in different poses and show how the text and the illustration relate to one another.

Well, a few tracings, scans and re-draws later, I present you … this little witch!
I usually like to post my work in color. This was such an exploratory exercise, that I did not have time to paint them, but I’ll try to finish them next week and when I do I will update this post.

BTW- If you have any recommendations or suggestions to improve these, please feel free to comment. I want to build my portfolio and it is difficult to know how strong your work is without the input of peers. My kids and my husband think everything I do deserves and award, which is so sweet, but not necessarily reality!

FIRST POST UPDATE:

Here's the first page in color. I must say, I am pleased with how it came out. I shortened the text a bit. Let's see if I can recreate the 'magic' one more time! ...I 'll post the other page before the end of the week. (if I can get to it!)

SECOND UPDATE:

I had to share this with everyone... When I realized the obvious, I chuckled! Let's see if you can realize it too. 
Now, let's play the game: What is different between the picture above and the one below?

If you guessed the dog is missing one leg, you were right!

I have no idea how that happened? Even the sketch didn't have the leg, and the whole time I was painting, I just thought of shapes, colors textures, and never noticed! Poor dog!

Anyway, I feel better now that he is complete.

THIRD ... and last... UPDATE

I was getting ready to work on the second sketch, when I received Heather's comment. She made so many good points, mostly about point of view and layout. I took her advice and made some changes to the sketch. I think this illustration has more energy and movement. 

Illustration Friday: HOARD

This is my interpretation of this week's theme HOARD.  My first thought was a squirrel. However, the idea of a dog hoarding bones and then forgetting were it buried them, appealed to me. I am sticking to paints and ink on cold press for now. I am fascinated by the votes on the poll I have going on.