Wolf Trio-Final

Another piece done. The majority of my portfolio contains pieces that are horizontal. I have a few vertical pieces, but I will have to rotate them for display. This means the images will be reduced somewhat. Rather than have to worry about small images becoming even smaller, I opted to rotate the circles in this piece so they could retain true to what they are in person.

Palette

I thought I'd share something I think is kind of a neat by-product of my illustration work. When I'm in the final stages of a piece, applying the colors I create with gouache, I frequently use a scrap piece of watercolor paper as a test page before I apply the color to the paper.

I do this to make sure the color is really what I want. It also wipes off any excess pigment which will help to prevent watercolor "burps" as I call them. (You know, where the color just kind of pops off the brush and goes everywhere but the place you wanted it to go?)

It also helps me to make sure that the palette I'm working with is harmonious and evokes the feeling I want. Although I usually do a quick color study before I begin, sometimes the palette evolves as I work and the test paper helps me keep it in check.

I have been throwing them away after a piece was done, but I think I'll hold on to them for now. I have a feeling I can use them to do something fun. I love how by looking at a slip of test paper I can recall the piece and the mood of it. It could be used as a good reference down the road.

What a stinker!

I took a break from the dummy book this weekend and worked on a few full-color pieces. Honestly when I began this piece, I had a general idea of where I wanted to go with the color palette, but it really developed organically. I'm very pleased with it! I mean, how fun is jumping in a pile of leaves that someone else raked up?

And this may sound kind of silly, but with each new piece I create lately, I get a little giddy. As cheesy as it sounds, I am so happy doing this!

Wolf Trio

I took a break this morning for the dummy to warm up first with a few sketches. This is a piece I'm adding to my portfolio. The original version is here.

It's not that I dislike the first version necessarily. It's that I originally completed it in ink and acrylic. I'll be repainting it in gouache so that it's consistent with the rest of my work. Because I trimmed the storyline, I'm able to fit it all on one page of the hot press paper I use, which is what I prefer. I like to work pretty close to the final scale of a piece, instead of reducing the images to fit a certain size requirement.

I really like this little guy and am looking forward to updating his look.

"Dum and Dummier"-Part II

I ended up drawing two more dummy books after my last post. I just kept playing with different elements and page counts. I finally decided to stick with a traditional 32 page count for my books, although I reasonably completed it in 24 in one of the dummy versions. Then I was figuring out how to stagger the layout so that the four double spreads I had were actually on facing pages. Fun stuff I tell ya!

Here are three of the four dummy books spread out across my work table. Since I was playing with page counts so much, I ended up taping together four page counts and then drawing the images on the paper. It made it easier for me to make sure my double spreads were where they were supposed to be.

The actual drawing really didn't take too long. By now I've drawn so many of the images over and over, I was worried they were becoming stagnant. So I made notes to myself on certain pages about different perspectives, details and positions to try out before I committed to the final art.
Here are the four dummies and one storyboard dummy. They are as small as they look. 2.5 wide and 2 inches tall. I didn't feel so bad about using so much paper then. Each large book only took 2 sheets of paper to make. (or should I call them signatures?)

I now have the full-scale pencil art to draw up. I'll use the dummy to guide me, but don't want to restrict myself too much...if a really neat idea comes up for a picture I don't want to block it! I hope to complete this tomorrow and pick out the two or three pages that will become full-color samples on Tuesday.

I'll post at least one image of the full-color spreads later this week. (fingers crossed!)

"Dum and Dummier"-Part I

For the most part, I've focused on developing my art for the children's book industry. I know one of the best ways to display my skills as an illustrator is to create a dummy book showing that I'm skilled in consistency, pacing, narrative, etc. The furthest I've ever gone with a dummy book is the storyboard stage. You know, where you draw a bunch of thumbnails (tiny squares) on a page and pace out the story?

Until now. One day this story just popped into my head, but it took four more days to wrestle the entire thing into something I liked. After five drafts I had written a simple concept book. Really simple-it has only seventy-seven words. (that's right 7-7.)

It took me six tries before I was happy with the direction and spread layout of the story. That's right. I created six storyboards for a story with seventy seven words. Not only that, but I have plans to create as many as three separate books for this story. I have a concept that may not mesh well with the rest of the art, so I do one book with it and one without and compare. No ever said this was easy!

Here's a peek at some of what I've been working on. The first of three dummies accordions across my desk. Each page is two and half inches wide by two inches tall.

Here's a close up of one of the double page spreads. Once I complete each version of the story, and pick the one I think is strongest (no doubt with some tweaks here and there) I'll then move on to the full-sized paper and begin the task of illustrating the art in actual size.

After that, I'll pick one or two double spreads and take them to complete art-rendering them in paint, ink, pencil, etc. Once that is done, I'll scan all of the pages in, load them as a pdf on my computer, dink around with the sizes again, and print out at least three copies of the pages. Then comes the binding!

I don't think I want to think about that just yet. I was so happy I'd completed a dummy today. *Sigh* I still have a long way to go, but I'm really looking forward to it. I find this process completely satisfying.

I'm still here. The hubs has been out of town for two weeks, so I've been single-parenting it. A whole lotta stuff has been going on, and none of it art. Hopefully I can make up for that soon.

Hope everyone is doing well and avoiding this heart-stopping heat. (Our heat index was 108 yesterday and 106 today-oy!) Wait, I do have something I can share. I did these while flying home last weekend. My sketchbook was in the overhead compartment, so I had to settle for the bottom half of my boarding pass.