Cover progress

Yesterday I transferred the cover sketch to a watercolor block, lightly inked guidelines for the paint, and erased away the graphite. This morning I photocopied the image and tested color possibilities with colored pencil on the copy, which you can see on the far left of this photograph:

Then I began painting. As you can see, I did not put a whole lot of effort into clearing a workspace ahead of time:

I let the picture dry while I ate supper, then began picking out details with ink line. I think there is more to be done, but right now I'm afraid of overworking. I really need to take a break from looking at it. Tomorrow (after I get home from the day job) I'll see it with fresh eyes and perhaps be a better judge of what needs tweaking and what needs to be left alone.

Book cover sketches

This weekend I started work on a cover illustration for my portfolio. In the interest of tying the task in with the middle grade novel I'm in the process of writing, I'm doing a front cover mock up based on it. This is the idea I sketched up first:

The scene is one I thought might make the most intriguing cover. The two girls are peeking in a neighbors window. The title is just a stand in. (I'm nowhere near choosing a final one.) I didn't quite like the way the figures are dwarfed by the title text. They also seem a little too stiff. The tree shape's not working for me either. After much struggle with pencil and eraser (I was covered with rubber crumbs by the end of the day yesterday) and a little inspiration from Ernest Shepard's Winnie the Pooh drawings, this is what I came up with:

I'm still not sure of the layout of the text and border, but I like the proportions in the picture. I think I'll go ahead and get to work on the illustration in watercolor and ink. Then when I have my new Adobe CS 5.5 (on its way!), I'll play around with the other elements.

IF: Scattered

Once again, this week's Illustration Friday theme has been easy to tie in with the "treehouse" theme of my Sketchbook Project book.  Given a heavy enough gust, leaves and treehouse inhabitants are "scattered" on the wind:

Two more for the Sketchbook Project

Here are two more spreads for my treehouse-themed Sketchbook Project book. This first one, a treehouse ferris wheel, didn't come out as well as I'd hoped.  The idea looks much better in my head.  I may need to revisit it later.

It seemed appropriate that one of my treehouses should be occupied by squirrels.  I decided to give this one a little bit of story:

Treehouse Contraption

Today's drawing kills two birds with one stone. It fills the next spread in my Sketchbook Project treehouse sketchbook, and it contains a contraption to fulfill this week's Illustration Friday challenge. These little tree people needed some way to move fruit from the apple tree to the pine tree (thus making them pineapples - you may all groan now).

As always, click on the image to view larger.

Christmas treehouse

After a couple of months of neglect, I have finally pulled my sketchbook project book out from under a pile of stuff, turned to a fresh page, and begun drawing again.  This one came to me as I was imagining what sort of treehouse you might find in an evergreen...

Click on image to enlarge.

New Season, New Postcard, New Virus

Happy Autumn, Everyone!

So, Friday the 16th I chose the image for my next batch of postcards, and I ordered them online from moo. Then my throat started hurting. I swear it was at the exact moment I clicked to confirm the order. I've spent the better part of the past week popping ibuprofen and pseudo-ephedrine and forcing fluids. I started climbing out of the yuck on Thursday. Then yesterday my new postcards arrived in the mail.

I swear they appeared on the porch exactly seven days to the minute after I clicked to confirm the order.

I had planned to attend the National Book Festival today, but as it is threatening rain, and I am still not 100 percent better, I have decided to stay home.  Disappointing, but I have 60 postcards to prepare for mailing and some spot illustrations that need inking.  The spots are spec work I'm hoping to sell to a periodical.  You can see part of one image in the photograph above. See the penciled mouse on the sketchpad in the upper left corner?

On the writing front, I'm working on character backgrounds for a new early middle grade novel.  This is a project that  has grown out of the picture book dummy I created last winter.  The book seemed to want more story to it, so I'm letting it grow.  I have aged up the main character from about 5 or 6 to 10 years old.  I have a good idea of where I want to go with the plot, but earlier this week I was struggling with writing.  Literary agent Kristen Nelson's post on the subject of character development hit my blog reader at just the right time.  I need to discover more about my characters, their backgrounds, and their feelings about their circumstances and one another to know how they would act and speak in the scene.  So, more prep before writing.  But it's a happy-making task.  I am enjoying getting to know my cast.

Promo piece redone with wash

I decided to redo the cinema promotional picture from the previous post with different hair on the woman.  This one has a neutral gray wash. Click on image for a closer look.

I like this one better.

Now I'm eager to get on with creating images to go with the chapter book I'm writing.  More posts on that to come.

New promo materials

Here is a first stab at a new promo piece:

Click on the image to enlarge. Note the slick way I slipped my web address into the image.

I plan to work on a couple more ideas over the next week or two before I decide what to put on the next postcard. I want emphasize black and white work in this round of mailings. My self-imposed deadline for getting the next batch of postcards into the mail is the end of this month. Wish me luck!

Bookshelf Pics with Wash

Not a huge change, but an improvement I think.

Pic 1, before:

Pic 1, after:

Pic 2, before:

 Pic 2, after:

This blog was pretty quiet in August.  You may be wondering what else I have been up to.  Well, I recently wrapped up a round of revisions on a novel work in progress.  It is with a critiquer at the moment.  I have a new short story off on submission to a magazine and have just gotten another ready to submit as well.

In the drawing department, I've been sketching characters in preparation for my next promotional mailing. I want to get a batch of postcards in the mail by the end of the month, but I'm struggling with getting the characters to a level of dynamism that satisfies.  My people aren't quite interesting enough for the market I'd like to get into.  If you, dear blog reader, have used any resources - books, websites, blogs - that have helped you get your characters to the next level, please, please, please leave the names of them in the comments. Thank you!

Better with Wash

I finally got bold enough to add a neutral gray wash to a few pen-and-inks I drew earlier this summer.  Being  essentially a coward, I had to try first with a picture I wasn't particularly attached to. This is a quick piece I did in response to an Illustration Friday challenge:

And here it is after I've enriched it with the wash:

I don't know about you, but I see a massive improvement. I clearly need to quit being so precious and trust my hand more.

I was so pleased with the outcome I went right on to add washes to the two bookshelf pictures. Posts with their before and after images to follow...