End Page of Treehouse Sketchbook Project

Here's the end page of my Sketchbook Project book:

It's not a very elaborate image on this spread because some of it will be covered by a pocket before the book goes into circulation.  I don't remember which side they put it on.  Now I have only to pack it up and mail it to the Art House Library in Brooklyn, NY.

If you're interested in seeing all the sketches I've done in this (SBP 2012) book and the one I did last year (SBP 2011), click here or on sketchbook project label in the right hand margin and scroll through the posts.

Illustration Friday: Round

Looks like Cob's got his paws on the last thing he needs:

This Year's Christmas Card

Just finished my Christmas card picture:

If you scroll through my old posts or look at the color portfolio on my website, you can find the village I decided to blanket in snow for this image. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens and watercolor on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper.

Now to order the cards...

My Last Illustration Friday Sketchbook Project Combo for the Year

This is the last full spread in my Sketchbook Project "Treehouse" book:

The contrasting designs of the two houses is inspired by this week's Illustration Friday topic "vanity."  Sorry, no prizes for figuring out who's meant to be vain in this picture, but if you can come up with a creative reason why it would be the guy in the tree on the left, I'd love to read your explanation in the comments.

One page (half a spread) left to go before this puppy gets mailed to Brooklyn.

Another Treehouse Spread for the Sketchbook Project

Another Illustration Friday - Sketchbook Project Mash-up

Silent:

Playing around with Photoshop

For well over a week, I have been busily working at my lessons in the Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book.  Today I decided to take a break from the proscribed lessons and play around with the book cover image I created a couple of weeks ago.  I tweaked colors and added borders and text.  Here is the result:

Please don't fall asleep.  At least it's an improvement over this:

But clearly I need to learn a few more things about graphic design and Adobe's tools for generating it.  I've ordered a few more books on the subject.  I've only used Photoshop so far. InDesign is bound to prove more helpful for layout and text matters.

Illustration Friday: Stripes

Here is "Stripes":

I am almost at the end of my Sketchbook Project book, so soon you should start seeing Illustration Friday images posted here that don't involve a treehouse.  It's been fun to combine the two exercises, but I'm about ready to move on to other themes...

A Man's Treehouse is his Castle

There are only about five spreads left to fill in my Sketchbook Project book.  No rush to finish this year.

I've been doing a little less drawing these days as I spend more time familiarizing myself with my new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5.  I had an old version of the design software (Photoshop, Illustrator, and Pagemaker, purchased in 1999) that I barely touched.  But a lot of brilliant work has been generated in the newer versions lately, and it's made me want to master the medium.  It's going to take a lot of practice.  Starting with Photoshop, I'm orienting myself with Classroom in a Book.  I'm amazed at all the tools available.  I don't imagine I'll come anywhere near to using them all.  To begin with I'll probably just use Photoshop to tweak scanned illustrations. But once there's room in the budget for a tablet with a pressure sensitive stylus, I may see what it's like to generate images like the one above in digital form.

Of course, I will always have inky fingertips.  I love the tactile experience of generating art on the page too much to ever go strictly digital.

What about you?  Do you use digital tools when you create your art?