Illustration Friday!!!!!

I love social media!  I used to think that I didn't love it because it was so new and time consuming and I couldn't make sense of it:)  But after some research and many interviews with people who are using it I find that I love it.  One of the things I love is discussion forums.  I found many relevant discussion forums on Linked-In and the one I have been dabbling in most recently is "Children's Books".  On "Children's Book" discussion forum I heard about "Illustration Friday"  a great website for creative people like me and I bet you too!    In their own words...."Illustration Friday is a weekly drawing challenge and participatory art exhibit brought to you by Illustration Age. Every Friday a new topic is posted (based on topics you suggest!) and you have one week to come up with your own, unique interpretation.  Anyone who likes to draw, paint, sculpt, doodle or color can participate in Illustration Friday."  When I saw this description I knew it was for me!  Here is a link to their site.... Illustration Friday   This gives me a great way to practice and doodle with illustrations without the pressure of an assignment or client to please:)  This first week is 

Onomatopoeia...

Onomatopoeia is when a word’s pronunciation imitates its sound.  

So here is my first submission.  It's a piece that I did about a year ago but I thought it fit for this assignment and would get me started!  I'm counting on you to keep me honest and posting weekly:)

More Character Studies

This semester I am stretching myself and focusing on development of memorable characters.  This is not an area that I have a lot of experience in, but one I want to get better at, especially since I would like to do children's picture book illustration!  I am taking a class this semester at AAU with an instructor whose work I love!  We have only had two weeks of class but we are already developing full characters.  I am really trying to think about making the characters I draw memorable, lively and relatable to my readers.  This week we were asked to create a character with different "costumes".  I interpreted this a little more literally and put my character in "costumes" similar to the boy in the wolf costume in Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are".

So I chose the character Tiger Lilly from the story of Peter Pan.  She is the Native American that Captain Hook is always stealing and tying up for Peter to come rescue:)  Tiger Lilly is a spunky, spry character that I imagined would be full of ideas of how to get away.  So I drew her in her native costume and gave her a sweetness.  Then I dressed her as a pirate, thinking, since the pirates keep stealing her maybe she would dress up as a pirate to get away.  I gave her attitude as a pirate since she would need that to hang with Hook's men.  Lastly, I drew her dressed as a fortune teller where she could use her fortune telling powers to mesmerize Hook and make her escape!  Below are the drawings.  Let me know what you think!

More drawing

So here are my two other projects that I worked on this weekend.  The first is a series of 5 clothed figures drawn from all angles.  I did these in charcoal on newsprint from photoreference that was provided to me.  I was looking to get the proportions accurate, a likeness, and consistency of character from pose to pose.

These poses were a warm up exercise for my next project which was to develop two characters, a male and female, and draw them from front, side and rear view.  The characters should be recognizable and clothed and accessorized appropriately, but we were given some flexibility in proportions to help make the character memorable.   I chose to do a Flapper girl and a Chef.  Here they are.  Enjoy

  

A weekend of drawing!

I have been drawing all weekend working on three different projects...so I have lots of artwork to update you with:)  The first is for my thesis.  I have been studying and drawing mice for my children's book "Five Hungry Mice".  Here are my quick studies.  I need to do more but here are my first few pages.

my husband interrupted me in the middle of my post for a trip to 7-11 for slurpies.  Since it was 10 pm on a Saturday night I just had to go to see who exactly is at a 7-11 at that time of night.  We took the whole family, my three kids, and my nephew who was visiting.  Guess what....we were the only people at the 7-11 at 10pm on a Saturday night!  The cashier was eyeballing us quite a bit, I think he thought we were going to steal our slurpies.  We paid in full, so here is the Slurpie I got to prove it!

Looking for my big idea....

I love to tell stories.  I think it's part of my heritage.  My father is a storyteller too.  We grew up with the anticipation and fun of dad telling a story almost every night at the dinner table.  The stories weren't pre-fabed or purposefully thought out to impress us.  They were just the everyday happenings of a carpenter as he worked with a crew of men.  But the way he told them were engaging and funny and kept you wanting to hear more.  He also admired great storytellers and would memorize passages of their works and recite them on occasion.  The works of Robert Service were some of his favorite and I can almost recite the whole "The Cremation of Sam Magee" myself!

So when considering what is it that I bring to the world, that I would like to share with others, I think it is storytelling.  But being such a visual person I like to add the pictures I see in my head when I tell a story.  That's where my art comes in....  So when considering what I what to communicate through this blog and through my art I think about how much stories move me and how I want to share that with others visually.   To create a sense of awe, or wonder, or just happiness in others through a story that is told with pictures is the mark I would like to leave.  So I began looking for inspiration in quotes about storytelling that might sum all of that up better than I just did.  I found this quote and really liked it because it speaks to the simple joys that make life special, that make us happy, that make us well.... like storytelling.  I hope you enjoy it to.

.... if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence? ”

— Gabrielle Roth

reposted from: http://storytellingquotes.tumblr.com

Thesis Beginnings

Great News!  After lots of discussion and advice from my advisor, program director and committee members, I received approval to proceed with my thesis idea of putting children's songs into picture book format for my MFA.  I appreciate the feedback I received from my committee and the time I had to rework my idea so that I can make the best picture book art I can.  I am targeting the preschool to early reader market and chose songs that would be appropriate for those markets.  One of the songs is about 5 Hungry Mice and a Box full of rice.  I'm very excited about this project and have begun some work thinking about one of the first full spreads that shows the 5 hungry mice and the box full of rice.  I have also been looking at and drawing mice!  Here are my fist three ideas done in a value study.  I would love to know which one you like the best or any suggestions you have for improvement for me.
Thanks!

The above shows a few thumbnails of ideas.  I went on to shoot photoreference of these and then chose three to turn into the value studies for the spreads.  In the studies I was working with three values alternating warms and cools to try and keep the value pattern simple and to lead the eye through the composition.  I can always find areas for improvement in my work, but would like your thoughts as well since sometimes we get so close to our work we can't see the obvious.  Thanks for your help:)

East Aurora Art Show

I'm late with this post as well....but at least here it is!

At the end of June I participated in the 60th Annual East Aurora Art Society Art Show.  I participate in this show every year and I always choose to do the snow fence instead of having a tent.  I love the snow fence and the other artists who show there.  We are laid back and fun loving and don't feel the pressure that the people in the tents do to have a perfect display.  Nothing, and I mean nothing hangs straight on a snow fence!  This year there was rain forecasted which always puts a damper on everything and makes it hard to keep your art dry.  Over the years we have all come up with different systems to shelter the art from rain....large umbrellas, plastic drop clothes that can be pulled up over the art, finding a spot under the trees and hoping for the best....

It did rain on Saturday morning, so I had to get creative with my art covering.  I'm glad I pain in oil so a few drops of water doesn't mean a complete destruction of my artwork.  Here you can see my pice of the fence and my drop cloth.  Plus I was also a little creative with the tree that was on my space and used it as a shelter for myself as well!  I even made the local paper because the photographer thought it was a great idea!

I also had a nice surprise when I entered a piece into the judging.  There is a first, second, and merit award for the many different media that are present in the show, and then there is a best in show award. I entered my Summer Dreams painting in the oil category and it took first place!  I was thrilled and honored to be given the recognition by the jury.  The second day was full sun and we had lots of people come out.  My family came out to visit so I got to take a picture of the model (my daughter) with her award winning painting.  I met with old friends and sold several paintings and had a great time on the snow fence.  Definitely doing it next year!