Studio Happenings

This week in the studio I'm working on several finished art pieces and trying to decide how to render them. I work up very small sketches on Dollar Store newsprint sketch paper (also a nice thing to have on hand for my 3 daughters who like to draw!) I then enlarge those sketches to use as a guide for my finished drawings. The question that always seems to take some time deciding: How should I render the finished art? I love the spontaneity of small sketches and the energy they have. Finding the same energy for the finished pieces means finding a medium that allows me to draw quickly.

Above drawing: Finished Pencil on Stonehenge Sketch Paper and colorized in Photoshop

Above drawing: Technique study for finished art...Pencil on Mylar with digital color. An nice medium that gives mw a fluid line, but I miss the grainy texture of the Stonehenge Sketch Paper.

Above Sketches: Done on cheap newsprint and drawn very small.

Above: New technique I'm working on. Pencil on wood.

Ok, that's what's happening in the studio today. Have a great week.

I'm having fun working on a new little character and putting him in different situations. I think the most fun I have an an illustrator is trying to draw different emotion. Sometimes I'll take photos of myself in PhotoBooth making different faces to get the right eye placement of mouth. My contact sheets are actually pretty funny and if someone happened upon them without knowing me, well, um, who knows? I feel like Jim Carey in the Truman Show making faces in the mirror.

Of course I have a wild gang of models at my beckoning call. Makes a mamma so proud.

So thanks for stopping by to take a gander.

Bologna Book Fair

My agent, Jo Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary is gearing up for the Bologna Book Fair. These are some spots I revisited for a promo sheet she's asked for. Sounds like it's going to be a wonderful trip and I'm green, green, green with envy but so happy she's going : )
Also, here is an interview about SCBWI if any of you are interested. http://ncliterary.blogspot.com/ I look SO YOUNG in these photos...they were taken 9 years ago when my hair had much less grey in it and my children were itty bitty (and I was getting a lot less sleep.) So, feel free to pretend my hair still looks like that if you like. I am getting more sleep these days. Happy Thursday.

ilove imove #2

Ok, so I'm a little distracted here in my studio. I've mounted my phone to my head (!YES!) and I'm creating these little iMovie videos with these clips. So much fun I'm having a difficult time concentrating on anything else! Oh well, hope you enjoy my little peek into my creative chaos, er um, process. I absolutely love to see how other artists work. Hope you enjoy!

And in case you don't believe me...here is a lovely shot of myself with proof that I'll do most anything. Except hurl myself out of an airplane, or bungee jump, or eat strange insect things, or work in a deli as a meat slicer. Ok, well, almost anything.

Thursday Sketch and Studio Peek

As promised, here is a sneak peek into my studio. A sketch of a little bear and below a glimpse into how I work. I love to use an oblique quill holder with ink (below). This nib gives the lines their thick/thin quality and I like that I can control the line weight really well with just a little pressure. Have a look.

Sometimes my little soft sculpture creatures inspire my drawings.
Happy Thursday and thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek Poem Sunday

COWBOY


Instead of a dairy cow

I dream of being a boy

I’d swap a zillion baseball cards

and play with all my toys

I’d look for crawdads in the creek

run and jump, play hide and seek

Instead of a dairy cow

(which is such a terrible bore)

I want to be a cowboy!

And I wouldn’t be milked no more

Sketch Book Friday Peek

I WANT TO MARRY A JELLYFISH

I want to marry a jellyfish
My dad says that just won’t do
I want to marry a jellyfish
I’m in love, I am, it’s true

“She doesn’t fit in!”
barks my mom.
My Uncle George screams
“That’s just wrong!”

“You’re a spore, a fungi,
it’ll never work”
“You’ll be laughed at and scorned”
 My dad is so irked

 And her families all the same,
 everyone of ‘em’s to blame
Except for her kind uncle Jim
 He’s gonna teach me how to swim.