Here’s a little sketch tribute to my sweet pea and her smiley faces! That crooked smile she draws (that sometimes looks like a frown) just makes me happy. Kids are cool.
-Shanda
P.S. Yes, she is drawing in her undies, because she uses the potty like a big girl now! Why put on pants if you can draw without them!?
“Burst” inspired by Illustration Friday!
This is my second week to take about 20 minutes and get an idea down for the IF theme. It’s not polished. No impressing going on here- just gesture, concept, and story-telling!
Art inspired by Illustration Friday’s prompt: IMAGINATION
I’ve wanted to participate in Illustration Friday for a long time, and now that I have a blog I have no excuses! Except for time limitations. I only get 1-2 kid-free days per week to work on big, time-consuming illustrations, paintings and my writing. So, those days are off limits. But I’m challenging myself to this: once a week, gestural, light, fun images, inspired by Illustration Friday, that make me feel like a kid again! No pressures to impress. Just 20 minutes (with my sweet pea painting by my side too) and that’s it to get a concept/gesture created. I’ll be learning to tell little stories one at a time, and I believe this will be SO good for my soul :)
Here is HJ’s painting:
“Lula’s Brew” is the book (app) that made me fall in love with Elizabeth Dulemba’s art! I happen to LOVE Halloween (more than any other holiday), so this one really hit a home run for me and my family :)
“Lula’s Brew” was one of the very first books apps to hit to the iPhone app market and then the iPad market among other digital platforms. What I really love about this book app is that it stayed true to the experience of reading a real book. There are no bells and whistles, animation or music. It’s a narrated story that is entertaining enough with any of that extra stuff. It’s just lovely, and so fun to read!
And now it’s going to be a printed book! A book I can read to my sweet pea at bedtime :) I just can’t read books to her on my iPad at bedtime. It just doesn’t jive. But now I will definitely be getting a print version- I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Fall and Halloween with my baby girl! (as well as supporting Elizabeth, a woman I admire very much.)
Click here to read more about “Lula’s Brew” and Lula activities from Elizabeth Dulemba’s site!
As I said in my previous post, Southern Breeze Illustrator’s Day 2012 was just awesome! We had award-winning illustrator and artist, R. Gregory Christie (pictured above) there urging us to take chances and get our work out there. He said- That’s the great thing about art. It keeps advertising for you no matter where it is. You never know who might see it in a public place, someone’s home, etc. (A chef bought a painting from him in a night club and it ended up in Oprah’s magazine one day :) Greg offerred very wise advice such as reminding us illustrators that we are responsible for the imagery in our books for young eyes. Kids don’t have the filters of experience; it hits them pretty literally. Also, how important it is to find a passion- a niche, and how important librarians are to kids, us, and the book market. Greg also has an entrepreneurial spirit – he said we are Americans- you can make your own book store if you want to. It was also comforting to me as an artist, that he has a hard time visualizing what his art will look like until it’s done. I know from my own experience that it can be scary sometimes how much of an “accident” art-making can feel. I know it’s not an accident, but I feel that out-of-control at times.
Then we got silly/funny/cool Peter Brown! Illustrator of “Children Make Terrible Pets” and “Creepy Carrots”. He’s a picture book super star, and it was such a privilege to hear him talk to us as fellow artists about finding our “style” or “artistic voice”. It was just nice to hear that this amazing illustrator once had all the same questions as I do now. I especially loved his method of making a list of all the art you love, then try to find patterns or any similar strings in this list. And then figure out how you can incorporate all those attributes that move you most into one style that is undeniably YOU. He ended his talk with us saying, “You definitely won’t get published if you give up.”
The last speaker was Kelly Barrales-Saylor, Editorial Director for Albert Whitman & Company. She gave sound business advice from her side of the industry about getting noticed and hired. She voiced her fondness of working with artists and said that we are, by far, the funnest part of her job :) She said illustrations should take the a manuscript farther than the writer could’ve ever imagined; to elevate the book to a level that simply wasn’t there before. She spoke on the importance of making a personal connection with industry people like herself (crap- that means I can’t let being shy get in my way anymore), platform, a current website, and a portfolio that shows published and unpublished work (so she can see what we art we choose to do for ourselves which reveals our passions). “Persistence pays off”, she said, “and be flexible.” “Try new things, but stay true to yourself. Never stop learning and growing.” Something I thought was especially interesting was that she said many publishers are asking for layered artwork from all artists (even traditional, non-digital artists) for the sake of ebooks and apps. So for example, an artist like me who works with paints may want to paint the background as one painting and the characters on a separate painting so they can be digitally layered together so scenes can be moved around if needed to fit standard book dimensions as well as ipad and e-reader dimensions (which are all different!) Kelly also encouraged using agents, because it usually just goes smoother when negotiating etc. etc. This woman really appreciates artists and presented the business side of things with truth and grace. I would love to work with her someday.
At the VERY end of the day, I finally got up the courage to go say hello to Kelly. I’m so glad I did, because she handed me her card! She didn’t provide her contact info to everyone at the event. I think she purposefully gave cards only to those who approached her. I learned my lesson right then and there, because I could’ve missed that opportunity altogether. Please Lord, heal me of my shyness! In all seriousness, I pray that prayer. I’m so outgoing and comfortable with my friends and family- I am! But the more I attend SCBWI events, the more they become like a family to me, and the more comfortable and open and un-shy I will become too. Thank you, Lord, for Southern-Breeze and SCBWI!
At the end of this educational day, my husband took me to P.F. Changs to eat. Here were our fortunes- a relevant ending to my day!
So that’s the run down of Illustrator’s Day 2012! Hope you enjoyed it.
This past weekend I attended my first “Illustrator’s Day” with the Southern Breeze SCBWI illustrators! It was just as amazing, if not better, than the pricier conferences (which are geared mainly to writers) that I go to twice a year. And as you can imagine, this day was geared specifically to illustrators. It was also extremely affordable. Anyway, more about Illustrator’s Day in my next post :)
I was fortunate enough to be one of the first 12 folks to sign up for Illustrator’s Day which qualified me to participate in a month-long mentorship with the amazing illustrator, Michael Austin! (He has a new book coming out soon called “Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg”.)
Michael challenged us 12 with depicting suspicion in the context of one of these three classic stories: Rumpelstiltskin, Three Billy Goats Gruff, or Little Red Riding Hood. We discussed sketches over email and phone calls. Michael Austin truly has a teaching spirit! His emails were very detailed, and he really took his time with each of us. I learned a lot! He says there are three things in which he feels is most important in an illustration: action, emotion, and connectedness.
So here is a series of photos of my work progressing from sketches to a final painting…
These thumbnail sketches let me explore my options a bit. To see what floated my boat.
I took to this one right away. Something about that curtain was very suspicious to me- which was the goal!
I developed the sketch more so I could send it to Michael and he would have a clear idea of what I was going for. This sketch still has Red in her classic hooded garb.
I was growing tired of Red Riding Hood cloak imagery, so I tried a hoodie instead. Michael challenged me to enhance the action and emotion. So, I let her hand reach to touch the wolf’s feet and she looks more scared. The wolf’s feet are about to pounce too. I also added glasses to Red. Michael brought up the question: why can’t Red tell this isn’t her granny until it’s too late?
At this point I just jump in. For some reason, I have the urge to paint on wood lately, so I did :) This sketch really got me excited. In some ways I like Red’s face and expression in this sketch better than in the final piece, but sometimes you just have to move along. And since I’m not a digital painter, I can’t just go back. What’s done is done for the most part. The mouth, eyes, glasses, and gesture in general is strongest here, but I’m still happy with my finished piece.
I start adding paint. Unfortunately, things start looking a bit stiff here. And she starts to look older again after I had finally gotten her to look younger in the sketch above. The work sat like this for two days, and it itched at me bad- all I could think about was how I could “fix it”.
Finally I got some time to myself again to paint. I was happy when I got it to this point. I think she looks younger again. And I was loving the purple drape!
This is a big jump in the process, but when you get on a roll you just have to go with it. I’m especially proud of the way the background turned out. I tend to avoid backgrounds so this was a huge leap for me to do one effectively that didn’t compete with my foreground images. Tints and shades. Tints and shades.
On the last day, I pump up the contrast in several areas such as the hands, hair, and basket. I also completed the newspaper and made the wolf’s head’s shadow more transparent and a different shape.
So there you have it! I think it turned out pretty fun! This piece is a little more child accessible than some of my other work. I’m definitely evolving, growing, learning. If you have a chance I’d love to hear what you think!
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