When I registered for NESCBWI's Illustrators' Intensive with Giuseppe Castellano (Art Director at Penguin Random House), we were challenged to illustrate a scene from a book by Beatrix Potter, in our own style. I've added my final illustration below. I put together this post on my process to share some of my steps along the way. I hope you'll enjoy getting a little look behind the scenes!
Read MoreHere is my NESCBWI17 Conference challenge piece! Counting this towards my #100daysofsketching and #the100dayproject, because I had to draw a few final parts today. Looking forward to the conference tomorrow.
Continuing my work on the project from the last sketch. Here's a sneak peek of the start of the painting phase. Still drawing parts of the scene — I just love coloring so much!
A process sketch for the piece I’m chipping away at. I tried to capture the joy of the person in the reference photo I’m working from. This will continue to evolve. :)
Just a simple practice sketch tonight. I always want to add a little paint, even if it's unpolished. Coloring is fun!
Often I will doodle when I'm on a call or waiting for something. Here is one of today's sketchbook pages. Silly, messy fun!
Practicing hula hoop sketches for an upcoming piece. Thanks @justine.sparks for great photos to work from! #100daysofsketching#the100dayproject
Short on time today, but here is a very rough sketch for a scene I'm working on.
Feeling whimsical tonight!
This got silly tonight! Having fun. #100daysofsketching #the100dayproject #springishere
Short on time for sketches today, so I decided to loosen up and play with new brushes. Some of these sketches will be purely experimental. Back to more structured work tomorrow!
I have been wanting to make fan art for this clever little hen for a while! I love the character of Billina from the movie Return to Oz and the original Ozma of Oz book by L. Frank Baum.
See how I made it—here's a speed painting recorded in Procreate:
Practicing painting, just for fun!
I was inspired to paint this bird (a White-eyed Vireo) after my friend Tammy Hill Parks sent me a beautiful photo taken by Jerry Vanbebber (scroll down to see the photo). Tammy and Mr. Vanbebber are both members of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society, and you can view more beautiful photos at their public Facebook group.
Here's that gorgeous photo I mentioned. It was great to have such a perfect reference photo to work from!
Photo Credit: Jerry Vanbebber
I really enjoy painting birds—I'm sure I'll be painting more of them at some point over the next 100 days!
A quick one today. I had fun with this!
First sketch for 100 Days of Sketching. I'm studying flat-faced cats for an upcoming project, so it felt right to sketch this guy today. He looks grumpy, but he's secretely excited to be the first entry in my 100 Day Project.
For the first time, I'm participating in The 100 Day Project, hosted by Elle Luna on Instagram. I've decided to keep things open-ended by choosing to do "100 Days of Sketching."
I'll be posting to my Instagram and on this blog, among other places. I hope you'll follow along, and I also hope you might be inspired to join in the fun!
Part of what inspired me to jump in this year is the incredible projects I see posted by friends. Check out author/illustrator Sarah Lynne Reul's awesome gallery of #100daysofdrawingonphotos from the last round of this project! She's doing it again this April — you can follow Sarah Lynne's work on Instagram.
I'm thrilled to announce that Peter H. Reynolds' HAPPY DREAMER (Scholastic) is now released.
I was honored to be able to assist Peter during parts of this book's creation, and it was incredible to get a behind-the-scenes sneak peek. This book is one of those titles where each page looks more delightful than the last—I find it impossible to pick a favorite spread.
Here's the book trailer, which is stunning (IMHO):
Visited The Blue Bunny bookstore in Dedham MA to celebrate at the launch party. Couldn't be happier for Peter! I hope this book reaches far and wide, inspiring happy dreamers wherever they may be.
Just a little doodle today. Working with iPad Pro, still getting up to speed with Procreate. Enjoying DizzyTara’s ink brushes, available on Gumroad.
I've been super busy, but I really wanted to create something for InkTober today. The prompt was: "Transport." I know this is simple and rough, but I think it's fitting that I made it while being transported home on the train!
I've been working on other projects, and I've fallen a bit behind on InkTober—but here is a quick doodle, inspired by the Drawlloween prompt "8 Legs, 1,000 Eggs." The eggs are hidden somewhere in this girl's house! Fortunately, she and this spider are destined to be good friends.
