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Summer is my favorite season, as I enjoy being outdoors as much as I can. The above is my image for our IFK summer promo postcard, which had the summer theme of "beach". I did several prior to this one, finally opting for a looser, devil-may-care style with heavier ink. And I liked the idea of a poodle in a polka-dot bikini, lying on the beach. I was also doing dogs on a beach-scene for my own summer promo, below, so these kind of went together.

Have a good rest of your summer, everybody!

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A preview available at the publisher's site

Fineman, Kelly Ramsdell. 2012. At the Boardwalk. Illustrated by Mónica Armiño. Wilton, CT: Tiger Tales.

With a rhyming, smooth-flowing pattern in which the 2nd and 6th lines repeat, Fineman catches the very essence of summer boardwalk activity along the Eastern seaboard.

At the boardwalk
day or night
Treats for every appetite
Popcorn - taffy - fudge, delight
At the boardwalk
day or night

Food, rides, arcades, and fireworks; in rain and fog and sun - she captures it all - right down to the oompah music of the carousel and the stands selling hermit crabs.  Each 6-line verse appears on a two-page spread in which Spanish illustrator, Mónica Armiño, uses pencils and mixed media on textured paper to create a light-hearted, multicultural tableau of the best the boardwalk has to offer.   The final image is that of a lone worker sweeping the sand from an empty boardwalk that stretches away into the distance toward a darkened Ferris wheel.  To the East, the ocean is calm.  The sky is darkening and a full moon is high in the sky.

Oh, would that summer would never end!

I love this one!


In checking, I find that, of course, Kelly Ramsdell Fineman is from New Jersey. I'd be willing to bet that she's been to my stretch of paradise.  (I'd love to know how an artist from Madrid got it so right.)

We'd like to keep it a secret, but this is the real Jersey Shore.

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Our group is busy working on our summer mailer with the theme of "beach". I decided to create a scene with some friendly animal characters. As you can see this rabbit is taking a break after creating her sand castle while her friends are having fun in the water!

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Just a little guy I’m working on for something.

Though I grew up in a beach town, I’m not that much of a beach person. On a hot summer day, though, I can see it’s attraction!

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When you purchase an item from MY STORE, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to my favorite animal charities; Last Chance Animal Rescue and Horses Haven, both in lower MI. Which charity the donation goes to, will depend on the item purchased and I will love you forever from the bottom of my little black heart. ...and even if you don't purchase anything from me, you can go to their site and make a donation! They deserve a chance too!

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I’m trying to do some warm up drawings and messing with different styles and brushes, papers, etc.

This is a simple line-art drawing, digitally drawn, without working off a rough. I used Painter 11, with the paper set so it has some tooth. When I use a pencil, I usually use the “grainy cover pencil”, which will cover any colors used underneath the it’s layer, as well as pick up on the grainy texture of the paper. If you work digitally, you know you can control the amount of grain with some of your tools. Painter’s digital watercolors are underneath the line work. I like to use them quick and fast. I don’t like things to look tight, so I’m fighting that ALL the time when I work. And finally, I will sometimes double up the line work and/or color layers, depending on how bold I want things to be. In this case, I went for bold.

 

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Tagged: Allen Capoferri, America, Animals, Beach, California, International, Nature, Ocean, Photography, USA

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Pictured above for those of you who don’t know, the zookeeper of Allen’s Zoo exploring at one of my favorite places.

I saw something while exploring the intertidal zone today I’m not likely to see for a while again if at all. While looking at the usually seen inhabitants, (hermit crabs, sea stars) I rounded a rock and saw what I initially thought was the largest sea star I’d ever seen. It was about two and a half feet long (.7 meters). My mind making sense of something I’d never seen in the wild. Then realized then it wasn’t a sea star. It was a Pacific Octopus. I recognized the coloration from images in books I’ve used as reference. Although I know they happen around these ocean zones I didn’t know if it was still alive. It was not in water. I reached for my camera then remembered took the batteries out yesterday as they needed to be replaced. I then thought it probably wasn’t alive and waiting for the tide like the other things in the intertidal zone. It’d be sad to take a photograph of it then.

Also……Happy Mothers Day mom and all moms.

Tagged: About Me, Allen Capoferri, Beach, California, International, Nature, Ocean, Photography, USA

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Taken about a week ago I thought this photo had a look of Biblical proportions.

Also…

Many of you already know I’m a cinephile possibly from mentioning it on previous posts. I’ve only recently become a fan of the late Yashujiro Ozu. Two of his films resonate with me, Late Spring 1949, the first of his later films and An Autumn Afternoon 1963 his last film. These films have made such an impression on me I’ve watched them at least a half a dozen times each, finding the commentary on the DVD very informative and helpful to understand and appreciate these films. I’m not usually an old film buff, and often find many films of the similar time too dated for me to appreciate. These two films however seem to transcend that and reveal the essence of what it is to be human and that’s art.

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, Beach, California, Cinema, Commentary, Culture, Nature, Ocean, Photography, USA

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A quick one for this week's Illustration Friday:I played the beautiful and meditative game, Journey, just after it released last week and feeling inspired by their use of color, I decided to color this sketch based on the "Desert" level.

I just realized as I went to post this on Illustration Friday's site, that, in my haste, I read "shades" as "shade" which changes the meaning quite a bit. Ah well.... I'll make sure next time to re-read before I sketch! Reading is fundamental after all...

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Welcome to the second day of my five day virtual book tour for my book, Marvin Discovers the Beach. Let me say thank you for continuing this journey with me...

When it is time to write the next adventure for Marvin to discover, I choose one of my favorite places to find inspiration. Sometimes, I pick a secluded and comfortable corner of the park close to our house or I take a short drive to the farm where I grew up. The Farm is my place to find inspiration as I reminisce about the adventures I created as a child.

Of course, I take Marvin and Hibou. For they are the one’s that create the adventure and lend themselves to my inner child and imagination. We go for a walk together and as Marvin and Hibou explore, I let my imagination take over. As ideas come to me, I record them on my smart phone.

On the day I choose to sit and write, I typically pick a day when there is no one home and the house is quiet, except for Marvin, Hibou and I. I grab my laptop and smart phone (turn off the ringer), build a nest of pillows on my bed, call the dogs into my room, shut the door and nestle into my pillow nest and start creating. If anyone were to listen outside the door, I am sure they would think I am nuts; as I talk to Marvin and Hibou while creating the story out loud as I type notes on my computer.

For me, writing on the computer is more convenient. I can share my documents between my laptop and IPad and I can keep all my drafts all in a secure place.

The length of time it takes to write each story varies. It could take an hour or four hours. I have discovered that it depends on how inspired I am to write the specific adventure and how strong my inner child is on that specific day. I do not leave a story open on the first draft. I like to finish the adventure on the first day.

After a couple of days, I go back to the first draft of the story and read it. I will make adjustments and add or subtract details. My first audience for the new adventure is my husband and sons. I read the story aloud to them and watch their reactions. Sometimes, halfway through the story, I will stop and change a small detail or sentence and start over again. With their suggestions and ideas, the story is completed. Of course, in my little circle of picture book critics, my family; my grand-daughter has the last word about the story before it goes to the editor.

My little process takes about a week. I could create faster; yet I have found this is the best “routine” for me. I create better when I am relaxed and embracing the moment.

To discover more about Marvin (and me) visit www.marvindiscovers.com

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Taken about a week ago at my evening walk. Happy Valentines Day everyone.

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, America, Beach, California, Nature, Ocean, Photography, USA

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In my last post, I started to show the process I was using to create a new design. At that time, the design was left off looking like this...
When I originally sketched this, I had intended to show more water at the bottom of the design. While not my preferred method of fixing the problem,  I decided I would fix this is in Photoshop. Ideally I would have planned the sketch out better, but poop happens. Another issue I had was the paper I used to sketch on. I decided to sketch on water color paper because of the texture and the effect that I thought that would give the colors. Having learned a few PS tricks since then, I've decided to created that effect in PS as well, and go back to sketching on regular smooth sketch stock.

 Here  is the current state of my design... 

I reduced the size of the image, and then resized the canvas back to the original size. I then had to extend the various design elements, such as the water and horizon lines back out to the edges, and paint back out the edges as well. There was and is still some clean up left from my original pencil lines. Due to the texure of the paper, alot of the pencil lines were left in the texture of the paper and never got erased ( I try to erase softly).

My next post should show some significant additon to the coloring. As always, please feel free to comment. I'd love to hear what you think.

Marty

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I alway enjoy looking at favorite artist's work process. It's been a while since I posted one. Since I'm in the middle of experimenting with my Photoshop skills, I thought this would be a good time to do so again.
Below is a recent sketch of mine, that I'm currently in the middle of coloring...

I've long admired picture book illustrators whose style has a soft almost painterly look. Being primarily a vector artist, which I also love, I haven't really developed that soft look that I really admire. This is the year that I decided to really develop that look more. I doubt that I'll switch over to that look permanently, especially since it will take a while for me to develop it to the point that I'm happy with it.

Here's step two... I'm not even sure if I'm staying with these colors. I'm just trying to fill in blocks of color and try to see what I like and what I don't. Two big key changes to the way I'm working with this are, 1) use textures when I paint, and 2) painting on a "multiply" layer. The concepts aren't new to me, I've just never used them before. I like the effect and technique, I just don't know if I'm happy with the result yet.

You know what just occured to me ? This is supposed to be a polar bear.. white dummy... arghh..

My next post will sure the next, maybe next few, evolutions of this pc.

Thanks.. as always, thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Marty

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Taken yesterday while walking with my daughter.

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, America, Art, Beach, California, Nature, Ocean, Photography, Travel, USA

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Here are the finished versions of my kitten spots. As you can see, my intention at the time of developing these years ago was to have a different image for each season that I could use on letterheads, etc. in conjunction with the current season:
On an aside - well, I followed my own advice from my last post and went to see Paul Zelinsky speak at the Allen Public Library last weekend and he was just great. He showed us all about the construction of pop-up books and the amazingly complicated paper engineering involved. Additionally, the people at Storyopolis Entertainment ran a raffle wherein to my disbelief and amazement I won a very limited edition print of an image from Tony DiTerlizzi's The Spider and the Fly!

I am one of those people who never wins anything, so I was and still am so excited that apparently I had to blog about it! So the lesson for any local Dallas children's book aficionados is to go support these presentations - even if there aren't any future give-aways, you might get a chance to see the moving innards of a pop-up book or some such and how cool is that?!

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All finished:
And regarding the "rage" in the post title - no, I'm not angry about anything, but I have to take a moment to promote my husband's new video game Rage which just released today. (And in the unlikelihood that the title isn't enough of a dead-giveaway, this game is not for young children! :) )

Official website: http://www.rage.com/gate/?return=%2F
EGM Review: http://www.egmnow.com/articles/egm-review-rage/
Several trailers: http://www.gametrailers.com/game/rage/5315

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I'm currently resurrecting a number of decade-old spot illustrations based on my kitten logo that I had intended to use as a sort of branding - on letterheads, business cards, invoices, etc. Here are two of them:I'd even started paintings for all of them, but got sidetracked by other work at the time and never came back to them. I probably won't use them for their original purpose, but I thought they might make for some more good digital practice.

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Finding that last summer's 'escape to the north' vacation worked well to disrupt our protracted Texas summers, we repeated the venture again this year, this time visiting New England. Unfortunately, we were met by a number of less than ideal circumstances - I contracted some kind of illness almost immediately upon our arrival and Hurricane Irene was on the approach.

We spent a very long first day making up for all the hiking we didn't get to do this summer - first at Flume Gorge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Following lunch we started hike #2 on Falling Waters Trail, intending to climb all the way to the summit of Little Haystack Mountain. We thought surely this would be no problem at all as the trail was only 3.25 miles one way. I knew it was a steep mountain just from reading about it, so I must have been deluding myself that the trail would gently meander it's way up the mountain. I was wrong. It was 3.25 miles of up. Boulders, stairs, crossing streams here and there. It was beautiful - just what we've been missing out on in Dallas, but it was too strenuous for us out-of-shape, currently non-hiking hikers and we decided to give up after learning from several descending hikers that after about two and a half hours on the trail we still had an hour of up to go before reaching the summit. Even so, we enjoyed several gorgeous waterfalls along the way. I think this one's called "Cloudland Falls:"Having a little bit a daylight left and suffering the disappointment that we didn't get to enjoy a view from the top, we cheated our way to the top of a different mountain by way of the aerial tram on Cannon Mountain. We had a nice view of Echo Lake from the tram:And a nice view of a black bear too!

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Taken during me and my daughter’s walks. Note; our friend above is “boiling” mad.

Tagged: Allen Capoferri, America, Beach, California, Family, International, Nature, Ocean, Photography, USA

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Greg Pincus, father of the Fibs poetry form at his blog GottaBook and social media tour guide at Happy Accident, penned an ode to summer with a new poem, "At the Beach - a beach poem"  last week.  His poem inspired me to pick up Margie Blumberg's book Sunny Bunnies from the review stack.

  A rabbit family packs up the car and heads to the beach where they play in the waves, fly a kite, enjoy a picnic lunch and build a sand castle. Blumberg's story rhymes along with a pleasant read-aloud rhythm. She hits all the activities a child enjoys at the beach.  June Goulding's bunnies are picture book sweet and she fills the page with nice details including a sumptuous picnic with foods young children will recognize.  At the end of the day, jars of lightening bugs glow while the family toasts marshmallows around a campfire. She also keeps the geography of the beach consistent in the different views.  Her end papers are a map of Carrot Cake Park where the family has spent the day. I really like presenting maps to young children.  Blumberg and Goulding hit the mark with the book's last pages as the children, who are still not tired, jump out of bed to check on their parents and find them completely zonked, sound asleep from their big day at the beach.
  
Sunny Bunnies, written by Margie Blumbert, illustrated by June Goulding, MB Publishing, 2008

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I love summertime. Summer is the season of reading everywhere: on the beach, in my Adirondack chair, on a park bench, on a blanket in the grass. In my hunt for some good summer reads, I found lots of covers that capture this season well.

Cartwheels on the beach! (Or is that a head stand?)

That Summer by Sarah Dessen (Speak; May, 2004)

Ah, the water…

Tempest Rising by Tracey Deebs (Bloomsbury; July, 2011)

(This is the Kindle Edition cover, which is cooler than the hardback cover.)

Tara Hudson Hereafter (Harper Collins: June, 2011)

Summer isn’t all about beaches and boating…

Keri Mikulski 1 Comments on Summer Reading, last added: 7/21/2011