I love Michael's story. It's funny and inspiring, and I think it's going to appeal as much to grown-ups as it will to kids. I had a ton of fun creating the illustrations for this book and thought I'd share part of the process.
Above: an early version of the "little girl pretending to be a rampaging monster" image. I made the notes during a meeting with Justin Chanda (publisher & editor) and Laurent Linn (my art director).
 |
With Laurent Linn & Justin Chanda at S&S.
Photo by Danielle Young. |
They loved the monster hat on the girl. We decided to make the girl's mouth look more interesting; Justin & Laurent suggested making it look a bit more like the monster's, maybe echoing the shape. We also decided at this point to make any fantasy elements in the story easier to separate from the real-life elements by coloring them blue.
© 2012 Russ Cox | Smiling Otis Studio
Happy New Year Everyone! For my first post of 2012, I thought I would share how I developed the concept for the above illustration.
I started out with doodling in my sketchbook. The idea of a child swinging on an old branch was too symbolize "old and new" as well friendship.
After working up the sketch into a tighter drawing, the symbolism was not working and the tree branch became too scary. Especially when the end of the branch was turned into a gnarled hand. It seemed to be ready to grab the girl instead of forming an arch to show protection.
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I hope that Santa brought you a gift this year!
Where ever you are and how ever you celebrate the season, wishing you peace,
happiness and a joyful 2012.
Thanks for visiting Pixel Shavings!
Come back next week for a post from Russ Cox.
Hazel
See more of my work at
or join me on Facebook at
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
What a heartwarming thing it is that during this darkest time of year,
the world is filled with beautiful lights and music.
So whatever your reason to sing this season,
I hope you have a wonderful celebration!
Peace on Earth
©2011 Sheralyn Barnes
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to look for
another amazing creation from John Deininger next week!
You can see more of my work at:
Happy holidays one and all. May your season be filled with gooseberry pudding, matching socks and winning lottery tickets. In the meantime, here's the elephant father/son duo I've been sketching so fervently as they settle down for a long winter's nap.
See more at
FreddieK.com and come back next week for another great post from Sheralyn Barnes.
Can't believe how quickly this year went by! This was my first year with Pixel Shavings, and I want to thank Hazel, Russ, Sheri, Fred and John for all their encouragement. I feel honoured to be part of this amazingly talented group.
This week, I'm going to show you how I created my winter-themed illustration, SNOW FLIGHT, using Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro app for the iPad. First I created the sky in a separate layer using a flat blue. Then I added texture in a slightly darker blue.
One of the advantages of working digitally is that it's easy to make copies, in case I screw up. Before making a radical change to any layer, I always make a copy of that layer and then hide it, just in case I need it later. In the image below, you can see how I've hidden the extra layer by clicking on the eye icon. In the active/topmost layer, I then activated the transparency mask and then added a sunrise texture/color. Because of the mask, I'm only painting on blue part of the picture, not the snow.
In a new layer, I created a separate transparency mask for the snow. At first I tried doing this with white but found it too confusing so switched to an obnoxiously bright blue:
After activating the transparency mask for the ground and painting it white, I added some texture to the snow. Then in another layer (I LOVE LAYERS), I did a quickie sketch of the flying girl.
Next, I drew the girl. Um…as you can tell, I pretty much ignored my original sketch. :-) After I finished the ink drawing, I deleted the sketch layer.
Next, I added color. I should note that I always hated coloring when I was in school because I found it so boring; I was always the kid in school who drew stuff so other kids could colour. Now I love it! Coloring's much easier digitally because I can make the brush really big so it doesn't take as long. Then I can add textures.
Here's what the colored version looked like:
I didn't like the way the black outline looked -- too boring and flat compared to the background -- so decided to add my woodcut effect, This is gradually becoming one of my "go-to" illustration styles because it feels so natural to me.
In Photoshop CS5, I use the Layer Mask tool but in this app, I used the Eraser tool instead:
0 Comments on Snow Flight: created with the Sketchbook Pro app on the iPad by Debbie Ridpath Ohi as of 1/1/1990
© 2011 Russ Cox | Smiling Otis Studio
As the holidays quickly approach and we begin to reflect on this past year, I just wanted to take a moment to say "THANK YOU" to Hazel, Sheri, Debbie, Fred, and John for letting me be part of this spectacular group of artist/writers. They say you cannot teach an old dog a new trick but with the feedback, support and encouragement from my fellow Pixel Shavers, I say you can. Each one has been a major influence on the direction my artwork is heading and on me as a person. I cannot thank you enough. They are also responsible for giving me a swift kick in the rump I needed to start writing. I would never have even considered taking that journey without that push down the writing path. So this illustration I am posting today, is for each of them and to all of my family and friends. You truly are "that special gift" in my life.
Also a big THANK YOU for coming to the Pixel Shavings glog and following our journey this year. Have a wonderful holiday season and cheers to 2012!
Russ
The charismatic Debbie Ohi will be up to bat next week.
www.smilingotis.com
Smiling Otis Facebook Fan Page
Smiling Otis Studio Blog
Following on from John Deininger's robot post last week I remembered a sample piece I produced this summer for my portfolio. Here's how it came together ....
First a quick thumbnail about 2 x 3".
Then I worked up the drawing in graphite, with no shading.
Scanned the line art at 600dpi and saved in photoshop.
With the multiply tool I blocked in the areas in roughly the colours I was thinking of and also coloured some of the line work itself, selecting with the magic wand tool.
Here is the end result. Most of my work is done with the mutiply tool and with highlight/burn tools. I don't work with many layers. Not sure how the wings ended up as waffles ... I guess the little boy was having breakfast and it just happened. in this illustration I was looking to keep some looseness and texture in the shading and colouring.
Many thanks for stopping by!
Come over next week to see a seasonal offering from Russ Cox.
Toodles
Hazel
Halloween has come and gone, but the glow of the slightly sagging Jack O’ Lantern’s still illuminate these early dark November nights. I love Halloween and have trouble letting it go for another whole year. It’s the perfect holiday for the imagination with color combinations that can make an artist’s heart skip a beat. So I decided to extend Halloween just a wee bit longer so that I could take
advantage of it for this post.
I’ve really been trying to build my skills with color and lighting, as well as try to loosen up my computer painting technique. So here is a quick painting honoring my beloved holiday. For this piece I built layers of different colors and then erased them as if they were scratch board. I found it’s a fun technique and kind of relaxing.
©2011 Sheralyn Barnes
To see more of my work you can view my website at....
Thanks for checking in again and be sure to tune in next week for the
great John Deininger!
Baby close your eyes,
The moon's about to rise.
Your day has been much longer than
you'll ever realize.
Another day is done,
It's setting with the sun
And as you dream the stars will bring
to you another one.
So baby, close your eyes.
:-) -fk
Check back next week to hear from Sheralyn Barnes.
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