Illustration Friday "Underwater"

Another quickie I did for Inktober and also for this week's Illustration Friday.  An underwater mermaid serenade!  Maybe at some time I'll post the rest of my Inktober pieces here on my blog.  This has been good exercise for me, getting me to think up and do these illustrations more quickly than is my usual want.  Now back to work!

Illustration Friday: Onomatopoeia

I'm participating in a new drawing challenge called "Inktober", one ink drawing for each day of October.  I thought doing a quick ink drawing each day would help me loosen up a bit, and I've been feeling the need to loosen up, let me tell you.  Then I also thought, "Why not tie in my Inktober piece with an Illustration Friday piece?"  So here we are.  This week's word is onomatopoeia, which means "the creation of words that imitate natural sounds."  When I took French in high school I was fascinated to discover that onomatopoetic words varied from language to language even though they were based on the same sounds.  The thought had never occurred to me. 

Winston the Ref!

Winston the Rabbit may not be very athletic, but he's very good at being the ref!  Ferdie the Pig and George the Jack Rabbit are facing off.

Feeding Time!

It's feeding time at the Bear household!  The little boy bear is so fascinated by the mother bird feeding her babes that he forgets the bagel that his Momma gave him for his breakfast.  Another piece exploring my bear characters...

Winston at the Window

Say hello to Winston!  Winston is a character I created for a picture book writing and illustration class I took a long time ago.  I noticed him in my box of drawings the other day and decided it was time to explore some ideas with him again.  I've gone back to an older style of mine, using an ink brush outline.

The Bears' Picnic

A while back I did a piece for Illustration Friday of a mother bear and a boy bear riding bicycles.  I really liked how it turned out, and I got lots of great feedback on it as well.  I've decided to explore with these characters more, so here they are having a picnic and playing pirate.

Emilie Spies Something...

I've been busy the past few weeks getting ready for the summer Society of Children's Book Writers Conference and then updating my website.  This was a piece that I did for my portfolio, a companion to a piece I did a while back called Emilie and the Sea Serpent.  It's an idea for a story that I have of a lonely Victorian girl who befriends a Sea Serpent.  It's just a beginning for now...

IF-Protest!

Bear says YES!  For this weeks Illustration Friday topic, "Protest".  Bear is character that I've been playing with lately for a picture book idea I have.

Emilie makes a discovery...

Long time, no blog!  Well, sometimes life gets in the way of things.  I'm going to try again to post more often, and more sketches along with finished pieces.  For today's quick sketch I'm returning to a character I've explored before, Emilie, and her friend...

Beethoven's Pastorale, IF-Storm

We're really digging back in the archives for this one.  I did this piece for an illustration class I took back when I was in college.  Colored pencils on gray matte board was my main medium at the time.  The subject was Beethoven and his Symphony no. 6, the Pastoral.  I grew up in a home of classical music lovers, and Beethoven was practically a god.  We even had a sculpture of him above the piano.  On top of that I was a Disney geek and especially a Fantasia freak, so of course the Sixth Symphony was my all time favorite.  I have to admit that I am still fascinated by it.

A little tidbit, that illustration class was one of the very first things I ever charged on a credit card...

IF-Myth, The Mermaid

A piece I illustrated that fits this week's Illustration Friday theme, "Myth".  This is another of my early pieces from when I got back into painting in acrylics.  I was trying out combining opaque and transparent techniques on this one.  I still like the idea of it but probably would interpret differently if I were to do it now.

Out on the Bounding Main...IF-"Ocean"

I pulled up an old piece for this week's Illustration Friday topic; ocean.  Captain Hook, Smee and the crocodile enjoying a little jaunt to find a little treasure.  This was one of my very early pieces when I started working in this stye in acrylic.

IF-Edge, or "The Cliff"

Another quick sketch for Illustration Friday.  This week's subject is "edge", and I guess this is an awfully literal interpretation, but with all the recent debate about the Fiscal Cliff, why the heck not?  I took it as an opportunity to do more experimentation with Photoshop.  Brian Bowes had a post on his blog recently about doing value studies for your illustrations that I found very helpful.  Though I had done value studies in the past, his post showed me how to approach them more clearly and with better purpose than before.  I'm happy with the result and look forward to doing value studies when I do my next illustration in traditional media.  Thanks Brian!

IF-"New'

A quick sketch for this week's Illustration Friday challenge.  The drawing itself was done with pencil and paper, then scanned and colored in Photoshop.  I'm still experimenting in Photoshop, trying out different brushes and effects.

Boeing Boeing!

This was my final illustration done in 2012.  This was a commission from my good friend Jim Webber, a very talented director and set designer.  His next show is Boeing Boeing being done by The Community Players of Concord, New Hampshire, February 15, 16, and 17th. The painting is for a view that will be seen outside a window in the set.  This was an exciting challenge for me.  In my other career as an animator I almost exclusively drew characters, human and animal, but not the settings.  I had to dig in and really figure out how to paint the settings that my characters are in for my first picture book, "Dan the Taxi Man", and this assignment gave me the chance to exercise and develop those muscles even more.  

Merry Christmas Oops!

I  was so busy this last month before Christmas that I completely forgot to post my Christmas Card for this year. This was inspired by the old Ella Fitzgerald Christmas song, "Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney". So here it is...Merry (belated) Christmas!  Best wishes for a happy, productive and creative 2013 for us all!