Does the title of this week's blog sound like a scene from 'Highlanders'? (That excellent movie from the 80's ..) well it might. I started a little group of illustrators and writers on Facebook that gathers in an imaginary snug bar in a Highland Tavern and sits and chats about this and that. So far we are having fun! Never would I have thought that FB could have given me so much pleasure when I joined with such misgivings earlier this year. I have found old friends and made new. It has brought me new business contacts (and work). It has introduced my illustration to folks I would never have normally reached. It picks me up when I am down and even gives me inspiration through my connections with like minded people. It is, in short, a great place to gather. And I for one, in what is sometimes a lonesome occupation, say cheers mate!
Been scribbling away this week ... I did work on the pastel of the HORSE ... here it is ...
I had some great input from, amongst other people, Emma Dryden, who suggested I make the limbs and body of the girl smaller and give her a less cartoony face. I can totally see that, so will be working on those changes. I have more or less completed the whole layout now. I won a free critique at the Virginia City, NV conference with Cheryl Klein, Sen. Ed. at Arthur A Levine (lucky, lucky me!) and I am going to send this to her. Can't quite believe that for sure.
I have an assignment from my mentor to identify and create mail outs for specific publisher .. which is great, because it is exactly what I need to be doing! I have been doing mass postcards, but targeting specific styles is the way to go.
Also been working on sketches for the Canadian Author ... here are a few samples ... the boy is getting there, but he needs to be more cutesy, so I will work on him when I do the inking.
Highlanders, the classic illustrated history of the Highland Clans by Sir Fitzroy Maclean, was recently launched during Tartan Week in New York. The Overlook Press, The American-Scottish Foundation, The Gathering 2009, and Visit Scotland, convened on New York's Scotland House for a celebration of the new paperback edition of the book. There was plenty of single malt scotch, and quite a few men turned up in tartan skirts: (from left to right: Lord Jamie Sempill, Philip Riddle, Alan L. Bain, and Donald Maclaren).