Girl in the rain

Sometimes it's quite soothing to make something very repetitive.

Reading is out of this world

Reading! It's the hip new thing all the kids are talking about!

Mermaid tail

Been a while since I've done a mermaid.

Arctic fox and starry sky (with ptarmigan who has met an unfortunate end)

Let me just say that I started out intending to draw a perfectly nice Arctic fox with starry sky scene, and then somewhere along the way a ptarmigan bit the dust. But you know, foxes have to eat too. Even adorable Arctic foxes.

Payne's Gray

Taking a short break from my current illustration project. Watercolor doodle on a scrap of watercolor paper, using Payne's Gray, Alizarin Crimson and a little bit of Quinacridone Magenta. Payne's Gray is pretty much my favorite watercolor color, which is odd, considering that it's gray, but it's a very lovely blue-gray.

Brand guide for my logo

Branding guide for my own logo.

Work in Progress

A little bit of what I'm working on right now.

Logo and Branding for Pink Door Fabrics

Recent logo and branding project for Pink Door Fabrics.

Thumbnail template for 32 page picture book

 

Here's a thumbnail template for a standard 32 page picture book with separate, solid color endpapers.

For the 40 page template with illustrated endpapers, see here: http://artghost.blogspot.com/2013/07/40-page-self-ended-picture-book.html

And, for more information about picture book layouts, I recommend this post by Tara Lazar: http://taralazar.com/2009/02/22/picture-book-construction-know-your-layout/

40 page self ended picture book thumbnail template

The title pretty much says it all, but here's a little blank template for thumbnailing a 40 page self ended picture book.  A 40 page self ended book has page 1 and 40 glued down to the boards on the front and back of the book, and pages 2 - 3 and 38 - 39 are illustrated endpapers. Anyhow, doing thumbnail sketches can be a very handy way to plan out a picture book dummy.

Quick Sketch

This little fox's tail ran off the page.

Faux Book Cover Project 5 - The Interesting Times of Lily Lee

Here's a continuation of my faux book cover project with hand lettered type.

So, apparently the whole "May you live in interesting times" Chinese curse is actually probably not really Chinese. I can still see this as a book title though.

This started out as a hot press watercolor paper test and then I thought I might as well do something with all that empty space.  The dragon and the lettering is digital.

And here it is without the lettering:

The library

Painting on the Cintiq, trying to figure out lighting a little more. Have I mentioned how much I love my Cintiq?

I've been really into drawing books lately. I guess I figure a book always makes a scene more interesting. Because, you know, books!

And if you don't like books, well, who doesn't love a Regency-era lady?

Doodle of the day

Random doodle. Experimenting with backlighting.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Trying out a new painting technique using Photoshop's standard Pastel Dark brush, set on Multiply. This may mean something to you Photoshop nerds. For the rest of you: Hey look! Beanstalk!

Summer Reading

What are you reading this summer? Something with unicorns I hope!

An archer

I just finished reading Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang and it inspired me to draw a (pseudo-Mongolian) archer. Many inaccuracies abound in this little drawing, so don't judge me too harshly (all you Mongolian scholars and archery buffs that are reading this blog).

Village

More digital painting. I like little villages.

Reading

Just playing around with digital painting....

Alice in Wonderland redo

Long ago, (back in 2006!) when I was taking my first illustration for children class, I did an Alice in Wonderland piece for my portfolio.  I found that piece buried deep in the murky depths in my hard drive and decided to take another stab at it.

I kept some of the ink work from the original (albeit manipulated in Photoshop), changed the coloring, cleaned up the line work, re-painted Alice digitally, and cropped it. 

In the intervening years, I got a heck of a lot better at drawing and figured out how to use Photoshop much more effectively. (Draw every day. Seriously. It works.) Also I became obsessed with drawing hair. Having a Cintiq tablet also makes a huge difference in the ease of creating digitally (I HIGHLY recommend getting one. I love mine, totally worth it.)

She needs a bit of tweaking still, but I'm happy overall with the redo.  I wonder how much my style will change over the next 7 years.

The old piece: