I've been doing more black and white work lately.
This was drawn with a black colored pencil (well, three, actually).
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 8/20/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: #blackandwhite, #childrensbook, #crown, #illustration #ArtofSCBWINorthCA, #mouse, colored pencils, #SCBWI, #SCBWIdrawthis, Add a tag
This month's SCBWI Draw This! prompt was ROYAL. I've never participated in this before, not sure why. They usually send out the new prompt on the first of the month, but this month it didn't arrive until the 15th, I'm sure because of the SCBWI LA conference. So that left way less time than usual to get the art done. I love all things "royal", so felt compelled to draw a little something.
This is another one done with a black Polychromo colored pencil. That's all.
Notice that the crown has one jewel missing.
I think there's a story here waiting to be told. . .
By: Paula Pertile,
on 8/9/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Purrs for Peace, cats, politics, election, colored pencils, Add a tag
Tom and Catrina are the Purrs for Peace Party candidates. They believe every kitty should have a warm place to sleep, nice treats, and that catnip should be legal. They're getting my vote, for sure!
OK but seriously. These guys were fun to do. Even if you don't follow politics, unless you're living under a rock, you know what a crazy election campaign season we're having here in the States. At this point I kind of think a couple of cool cats wouldn't be a half bad choice, given our current options.
Tom and Catina were drawn by hand with colored pencils, then I added the whiskers with Photoshop.
I'm still working on the drawings of knitting Christmas tags and whatnot that I promised in the last post. Too many irons in the fire!
By: Paula Pertile,
on 6/5/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's book illustration, colored pencils, King Boggen, Add a tag
Here it is all finished. If you saw the last post where I was still in the drawing stage, you'll remember I had him with a pitchfork, flinging pancakes off the roof. Yeah - this is way better. Consider that a peek into the mind of an illustrator, somewhere in the middle of the 'brainstorming and tossing out all ideas' phase of putting together an illustration. You have to 'go there' and sit with things for a while. Sometimes they're weird ideas, sometimes they work, and sometimes you wake up the next day and go "whut?" and keep going.
So this is a style I used to do a long time ago, and for whatever reasons, started evolving into doing other kinds of art for children's books (and other things). I'm going to back to this, because its what I love to do. I consider this a kind of 'warm up' piece, feeling my way back to this. Its all colored pencils. And what I love about it, and is a kind of healthy breakthrough for me, is that its not perfect. You know, like my photo-realistic food illustrations. It was a relief to just have some fun with a piece for a change.
By: Paula Pertile,
on 2/13/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Russian cat, colored pencils, cat art, cat illustration, baboushka, Add a tag
Filed under: 5stars, Books for Boys, Children's Books, Middle Grade, NonFiction Tagged: art, art prompts, colored pencils, crayons, creativity, doodling, imagination, Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook, Quirk Books, ViiiZ
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 4/12/2015
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cat drawings, Downstairs Tabbies, Upstairs Tabbies, Downton Abbey cats, illustration, Photoshop, colored pencils, Add a tag
I'm having a lot of fun creating these characters, and learning their stories. I'm also having fun doing the colored pencil + photoshop colored pencil brush technique (I do the first part of the drawing with colored pencils, then scan, and finish it up with photoshop, darkening or doing whatever was too hard or labor intensive to do with the actual pencils). I like that it this let's me keep the 'hand drawn' look and feel, but with a little help where needed.
I'll be doing the Catley children next I think. :~)
By: Paula Pertile,
on 2/14/2015
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, cat portrait, Colonial portrait, John Singleton Copley, Lemewl Cox, Lemuel Cox, Add a tag
I developed the drawing, and went darker and darker with background.
This is pushing the idea of 'landscape' a bit, but technically it fits. I tried to make these cookies look like an old ruined arch, out in some bleak landscape. And . . . clouds!
By: Paula Pertile,
on 12/15/2014
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's book illustration, watercolor, colored pencils, fence, holiday art, Christmas art, Kitty Christmas Tree, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/8/2014
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cleaning art with Photoshop, fife and drum, children's book illustration, Revolutionary War, colored pencils, Prismacolors, 4th of July, Stars and stripes, red white and blue, Add a tag
This guy is very proud to be first in line in the procession, and has been practicing his fife music a lot, making sure he was ready for today.
And this guy has been driving his family nuts, practicing the drums, but they all know its worth it when they see him marching and drumming so well with his friends.
By: Paula Pertile,
on 5/20/2014
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Polychromos, colored pencils, Prismacolors, Stonehenge, Pablos, Luminance, Alyona Nickelsen, chocolate bar, chocolate candy drawing, color swatches, Colored Pencil Painting Bible, fun size candy bar, Snickers bar, Add a tag
And terrible close ups of them (sorry) so you can kind of see what I did.
But I know myself, and figure I'll just do tests as I go along, each time I do a drawing.
By: Paula Pertile,
on 3/17/2013
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cats, Photoshop, Polychromos, colored pencils, kitties, Pope, Rome, children's book art, botanical art, Pablos, red rose leaves, Catholic Cardinals, etsy shop thoughts, digital colored pencil, cats in costumes, Add a tag
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 12/30/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: goals, architectural rendering, Polychromos, colored pencils, Stonehenge, house portrait, Pablos, teapot illustration, Just Draw It online drawing course, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 10/8/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, candy corn, framed drawings, small little drawings, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/30/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, taffys, another un-still life, maybe I'll do some larger pieces, please commission me to do a big piece for you, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/19/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, Stonehenge paper, figs, reasons for being 'off', flying food, art mojo taking a holiday, un-still life, Add a tag
I'm pretty sure my eyes are OK, and the lighting on my table is good (although I do prefer to draw in natural light rather than with studio lights, but of course that's not always possible, when you're forced to work at night so much.) Depressed? Well, let's see. The economy is down, the house next door and across the street are empty and in foreclosure, people come around and pick through the recycling on garbage night (which they did all the time in the City, San Francisco, but never used to here in the suburbs where I am now), all the news is bad, and I could go on. But actually, no, I don't think that's why I was drawing muted pictures. Not consciously, anyway. Maybe its seeped into my psyche some. Mercury goes in and out of retrograde all the time, so I can't always blame that.
By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/10/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Olympics, colored pencils, too hot, pretzels, olympic rings, Add a tag
Is it hot where you live? Its 100 and something here. Bleah.
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 8/20/2016
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: childrensbook illustration, Family, CAT, Black and White, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: childrensbook illustration, Family, CAT, Black and White, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 8/20/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: #blackandwhite, #childrensbook, #crown, #illustration #ArtofSCBWINorthCA, #mouse, colored pencils, #SCBWI, #SCBWIdrawthis, Add a tag
This month's SCBWI Draw This! prompt was ROYAL. I've never participated in this before, not sure why. They usually send out the new prompt on the first of the month, but this month it didn't arrive until the 15th, I'm sure because of the SCBWI LA conference. So that left way less time than usual to get the art done. I love all things "royal", so felt compelled to draw a little something.
This is another one done with a black Polychromo colored pencil. That's all.
Notice that the crown has one jewel missing.
I think there's a story here waiting to be told. . .
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 8/9/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Purrs for Peace, cats, politics, election, colored pencils, Add a tag
Tom and Catrina are the Purrs for Peace Party candidates. They believe every kitty should have a warm place to sleep, nice treats, and that catnip should be legal. They're getting my vote, for sure!
OK but seriously. These guys were fun to do. Even if you don't follow politics, unless you're living under a rock, you know what a crazy election campaign season we're having here in the States. At this point I kind of think a couple of cool cats wouldn't be a half bad choice, given our current options.
Tom and Catina were drawn by hand with colored pencils, then I added the whiskers with Photoshop.
I'm still working on the drawings of knitting Christmas tags and whatnot that I promised in the last post. Too many irons in the fire!
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 8/9/2016
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cats, election, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cats, election, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, Add a tag
Tom and Catrina are the Purrs for Peace Party candidates.
0 Comments on Purrs for Peace as of 8/9/2016 10:21:00 PM
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 6/5/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's book illustration, colored pencils, King Boggen, Add a tag
Here it is all finished. If you saw the last post where I was still in the drawing stage, you'll remember I had him with a pitchfork, flinging pancakes off the roof. Yeah - this is way better. Consider that a peek into the mind of an illustrator, somewhere in the middle of the 'brainstorming and tossing out all ideas' phase of putting together an illustration. You have to 'go there' and sit with things for a while. Sometimes they're weird ideas, sometimes they work, and sometimes you wake up the next day and go "whut?" and keep going.
So this is a style I used to do a long time ago, and for whatever reasons, started evolving into doing other kinds of art for children's books (and other things). I'm going to back to this, because its what I love to do. I consider this a kind of 'warm up' piece, feeling my way back to this. Its all colored pencils. And what I love about it, and is a kind of healthy breakthrough for me, is that its not perfect. You know, like my photo-realistic food illustrations. It was a relief to just have some fun with a piece for a change.
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By: June,
on 4/6/2016
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Watercolor, SPRING, RABBIT, Colored Pencils, June Goulding, THEMED ART, Pencil and Watercolor, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Watercolor, SPRING, RABBIT, Colored Pencils, June Goulding, THEMED ART, Pencil and Watercolor, Add a tag
By: Paula Pertile,
on 2/13/2016
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Russian cat, colored pencils, cat art, cat illustration, baboushka, Add a tag
I finally finished this gal. She was going to be my Christmas card last year, but I started her too late, then had some 'real work' deadlines and had to put her aside.
She is a Russian Baboushka. The traditional baboushka outfit is just a crazy mix of patterns and color, with seemingly no regard for what might go well together. Therein lies its charm. So I pushed that as far as I could and had a lot of fun. The black floral border is a Khokhloma pattern, which is also a Russian thing.
I could do this same 'look' digitally, and might if I decide to keep going with this kind of art because boy howdy this was fussy to do with pencils, and was s-l-o-w. I also had to burnish (press really hard) to get the colors saturated enough, and that does bad things to one's hand after a while. I wanted to have an original piece though, rather than just a digital file, so I kept going with it.
Here are a couple of details, so you can see that yes, it is in fact colored pencil ~
I will make cards and prints and put them in the arCATecture etsy shop soon, and maybe make some stuff on Zazzle too.
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By: Shennen,
on 12/7/2015
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: WINTER, SNOW, Penguin, Colored Pencils, THEMED ART, Shennen Bersani, Charlesbridge Publishing, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: WINTER, SNOW, Penguin, Colored Pencils, THEMED ART, Shennen Bersani, Charlesbridge Publishing, Add a tag
from Butterfly Counting
written by Jerry Pallotta and illustrated by Shennen Bersani
Charlesbridge, 2015
Sorry penguin, there are zero butterflies in Antarctica. Wishing everyone magical season's greetings!
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By: Shennen,
on 9/13/2015
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: THEMED ART, Shennen Bersani, SCHOOL, Colored Pencils, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: THEMED ART, Shennen Bersani, SCHOOL, Colored Pencils, Add a tag
A few of my books have school related illustrations in them. I thought I'd share some with you.
Taking the bus to school isn't always easy. Here children taunt Alicia May.
From My Sister, Alicia May, written by Nancy Tupper Ling,
illustrated by Shennen Bersani.
The first day of school can bring surprises, like your best friend's new haircut.
written by Barbara Meyers and Lydia Criss Mays
illustrated by Shennen Bersani.
School can teach you about staying healthy.
From Nana, What's Cancer?
written by Beverlye Hyman Fead and Tessa Mae Hamermesh,
illustrated by Shennen Bersani.
0 Comments on Back to School We Go! as of 9/13/2015 4:18:00 PM
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By: Sue Morris @ KidLitReviews,
on 8/30/2015
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Children's Books, creativity, imagination, NonFiction, art, Middle Grade, Books for Boys, colored pencils, doodling, crayons, Quirk Books, 5stars, art prompts, Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook, ViiiZ, Add a tag
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Children's Books, creativity, imagination, NonFiction, art, Middle Grade, Books for Boys, colored pencils, doodling, crayons, Quirk Books, 5stars, art prompts, Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook, ViiiZ, Add a tag
Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook
By ViiiZ*
Quirk Books 8/20/2013
978-1-59474-652-9
160 pages Age 8—12 +
.
“You’ve never seen a doodle book quite like this one!”
”Wait, you can talk?”
“Photo Doodles combines kid-friendly photographs and cool creative challenges into the perfect canvas for anyone capable of wielding a crayon. Young artists and designers can complete dozens of fun and playful pictures of everything from roller coasters and soda cans to book covers and palaces. Perfect for sketching, scribbling, and coloring outside the lines, Photos Doodles will unleash the aspiring artist inside children of all ages.” [front jacket]
Review
Photo Doodles is a fun-filled book for those kids—and adults—who love to doodle, but may not know how to get started. Similar to writing prompts, each spread contains a one sentence prompt to help you with ideas to doodle your way to a fun, satisfying end. Here are two of those prompts:
“Who (or what) is at the other end of the rope?”
“What outfit will the puppy wear today?”
With 160 pages to doodle and color, it seems the options are endless. From decorating a sea of umbrellas to filling in storyboards with your own story. There is even one many students will find hard to resist:
“It’s your turn at the blackboard . . . what will you write?”
How about “No more math problems,” or maybe “School’s out early today: Leave at noon,” or maybe you would use your turn to make tomorrow a teacher conference day—“Students stay home!”
There are plenty of open spaces in Photo Doodles or those kids and adults who can doodle and draw with ease and loads of pages with images to make colorful and expressive, rather than drawing from scratch. A total of 200 pictures await your crayons, colored pencils, markers, or other artistic medium. While marketed for the middle grade set, younger children will enjoy many of the easier prompts in Photo Doodles and adults will love the range of images and prompts.
I enjoyed playing with Photo Doodles. I love to draw, but have a hard time getting started. Photo Doodles made getting started easy and the images and prompts got me thinking of ways to doodle other than the normal doodles in the margin of a page.
Coloring books for adults are in every corner of every bookstore online and off, but doodle books that prompt you to create imaginative scenes and messages, like Photo Doodles, is not as common. I think kids of all ages will enjoy Photo Doodles as much as I have.
PHOTO DOODLES: A CREATIVE SKETCHBOOK. Text and illustrations copyright © 2015 by ViiiZ. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Quirk Books, Philadelphia, PA.
Buy Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook at Amazon
Learn more about Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook HERE.
The Sell Sheet can be found HERE.
Meet the authors/illustrators, ViiiZ.
Vahram Muratyan at his website: http://www.vahrammuratyan.com/
Elodie Chaillous at LinkedIn: https://fr.linkedin.com/pub/elodie-chaillous/84/79a/462/en
. . (ViiiZ is the artistic team of Vahram Muratyan and Elodie Chaillous andfounders of ViiiZ, an art direction and graphic design studio created in 2005 in Paris. They graduated from the acclaimed Parisian design school ESAGPenninghen.)
Find middle grade novels at the Quirk Books website: http://www.quirkbooks.com/
.
Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved
Full Disclosure: Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook by ViiiZ, and received from Quirk Books, is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Filed under: 5stars, Books for Boys, Children's Books, Middle Grade, NonFiction Tagged: art, art prompts, colored pencils, crayons, creativity, doodling, imagination, Photo Doodles: A Creative Sketchbook, Quirk Books, ViiiZ
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 4/16/2015
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: caterpillar, Colored Pencils, WINGS, Paula Pertile, cocoon, THEMED ART, natural history illustration, Sphinx Moth, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: caterpillar, Colored Pencils, WINGS, Paula Pertile, cocoon, THEMED ART, natural history illustration, Sphinx Moth, Add a tag
"Sphinx Moth"
colored pencils on Strathmore paper
© Paula Pertile
I was inspired to do an illustration of this moth after one started visiting my jasmine in the evenings. I thought it was a hummingbird, its so HUGE! It starts out as one of those scary horned caterpillar worms. I never knew they turned into such glorious creatures. Nature is amazing!
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 4/12/2015
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cat drawings, Downstairs Tabbies, Upstairs Tabbies, Downton Abbey cats, illustration, Photoshop, colored pencils, Add a tag
Two new Upstairs Tabbies this week!
Sir Archibald Catley, and Reginald Sweet.
Sir Archibald Catley
"Archie" is the younger brother of Sir Cedric Catley, Earl of Mewton. He loves cricket, but mostly because of the sweaters. He has one for every day of the week. He also loves butterflies, and anchovy pudding.
Reginald Sweet
"Reg" is the brother of Lady Clara Catley (the former Miss Clara Sweet and wife of Sir Cedric Catley). He served in The Great War, and came home with a nasty scar for a souvenir. He did some paw-to-paw combat with a Russian Blue, which resulted in a bad scratch that never healed quite right. He's a little self conscious about it, and doesn't like to sit for pictures. He's not all seriousness though - he enjoys a lively game of cards with his mates, and loves to chase grouse and peafowl on the grounds of his sister's estate, where he lives.
I'm also playing with some new shapes for the Downstairs Tabbies, which, when I get the kinks worked out, I'll do for the Upstairs bunch too. I think some little cards would be fun with this round format, and some other things.
I'm having a lot of fun creating these characters, and learning their stories. I'm also having fun doing the colored pencil + photoshop colored pencil brush technique (I do the first part of the drawing with colored pencils, then scan, and finish it up with photoshop, darkening or doing whatever was too hard or labor intensive to do with the actual pencils). I like that it this let's me keep the 'hand drawn' look and feel, but with a little help where needed.
I'll be doing the Catley children next I think. :~)
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 2/14/2015
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, cat portrait, Colonial portrait, John Singleton Copley, Lemewl Cox, Lemuel Cox, Add a tag
This was a little experiment with first an idea, then the technique. I wanted to do some Colonial cat portraits, based on actual paintings done back in the day. I did some research, and settled on a painting of Lemuel Cox by John Singleton Copley to be my inspiration.
"Lemewl Cox Cat"
At first I was going to be more 'illustrative', then I ended up pretty much copying the painting, substituting a cat for Lemuel Cox, and making adjustments to the coat (neck, mostly) to fit the cat proportions.
I started out with Prismacolors on Strathmore Bristol.
I developed the drawing, and went darker and darker with background.
I just kept going, with different colors + black, then came in with Black and Caput Mortuum Polychromos. Finally, I scanned it and had a go at it with my digital colored pencil brush and Photoshop, just to get the whole thing dark enough. I also did the whiskers digitally (much easier than doing them 'by hand' with colored pencils!)
I've made prints available in the shop.
Not sure what's going to be next!
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 2/3/2015
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Valentine, CAT, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, THEMED ART, Sardines, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Valentine, CAT, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, THEMED ART, Sardines, Add a tag
A little Valentine from a kitty love by Paula Pertile.
This was done with 100% colored pencils.
0 Comments on Fancy Sardines Valentine as of 2/4/2015 1:36:00 AM
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 1/14/2015
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: LANDSCAPE, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, THEMED ART, ginger cookie arch, Add a tag
Blog: the dust of everyday life (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: LANDSCAPE, Colored Pencils, Paula Pertile, THEMED ART, ginger cookie arch, Add a tag
This is pushing the idea of 'landscape' a bit, but technically it fits. I tried to make these cookies look like an old ruined arch, out in some bleak landscape. And . . . clouds!
0 Comments on LANDSCAPE - Ginger Cookie Arch as of 1/14/2015 4:26:00 PM
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 12/15/2014
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's book illustration, watercolor, colored pencils, fence, holiday art, Christmas art, Kitty Christmas Tree, Add a tag
Its still 10 days away, but the next week will go by in a whoosh! of activities, so I thought I'd post now and have that one small thing crossed off my 'to do' list. (That didn't sound very festive, did it?)
Oh, I'll get festive. Sometimes it takes me a while. Its like before you've had coffee in the morning, and are not at all awake, then all of sudden you come to life and can function. That's how I am with Christmas. I kind of start the season all draggy, then at some point it kicks in and I'm good.
I finished my Christmas art! This is "Kitty's Christmas Tree". Its my first foray back into watercolors after a pretty long hiatus, and I had a blast. Of course I had to add some colored pencil to it too, for detailing. I could have done more, but decided to leave well enough alone.
And no, I did not count how many pine needles there are. If you are some sort of savant (like Rainman) you may do it for me if you like.
In addition to all the usual busy Christmas things to do, I'm getting a new fence put up in the back yard. They were supposed to start it today, but it was raining too much. (Wait, did I just say "raining TOO MUCH"?) Yeah. Drought for how many years, and now we've had storm after storm. Crazy. So hopefully tomorrow it won't be too bad and they can get going on it.
Tonight I'm putting up the tree, and am anxious to see how my newest kitty, Tracy, will behave with it. He's so young, and a real climber - I have a feeling it won't last long in the vertical position! Fingers crossed.
I hope all of you have a peaceful, healthy, joyous, warm, cozy, happy, (what have I forgotten?) Christmas or Winter Solstice or whatever else you may celebrate!
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/8/2014
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cleaning art with Photoshop, fife and drum, children's book illustration, Revolutionary War, colored pencils, Prismacolors, 4th of July, Stars and stripes, red white and blue, Add a tag
(click the image to see it larger)
I'm really happy with how these little guys turned out. They were super fun to draw, and I loved using my Prismacolors again for a whole, entire illustration. (Thank you Bostitch Super Pro 6 pencil sharpener for making that possible!)
This guy is very proud to be first in line in the procession, and has been practicing his fife music a lot, making sure he was ready for today.
This guy lost his nice tricorn hat in a horse-and-wagon mishap just before he had to step into line here, but is trying to put on a brave face, and is very proud that he gets to be the one carrying the flag.
And this guy has been driving his family nuts, practicing the drums, but they all know its worth it when they see him marching and drumming so well with his friends.
I did this whole thing with colored pencils. And I managed to keep it pretty clean. But even so, it needed a little tweak with Photoshop at the end to look even better. So I thought I'd show you a little 'behind the scenes' look at how things magically get cleaned up before going to print.
This is how it looked straight from the scanner. Its a little 'dirty', and the scanner made a dark edge on the left. Its also a little crooked.
Then here it is cleaned up, and straightened out.
Here's a close up showing one little piece, with the background as it was, then cleaned up.
Can you see how grey the background looks on the left, and all the little 'bits of stuff'? That's the paper texture, and little flecks of pencil that, no matter how careful you are, deposit themselves on the paper and refuse to come off. So, with the help of the eraser tool in Photoshop, I painstakingly go around each figure and erase all of that out, leaving a nice clean background.
I also use the clone tool to carefully pick out any little stray flecks of something that may land on the actual image (here, there was a tiny grain of dark color on his nose).
When I'm working on a piece that I know is going to be printed, and make a little goof or stray mark, I find myself going "That's OK, I'll fix it with Photoshop", and keep going. But when you're doing something where the original art is IT, like a commissioned piece, you have to be really really careful, because there is no room for mistakes, and there is no fixing the final art with Photoshop! The piece has to be perfect (no pressure).
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 5/20/2014
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Polychromos, colored pencils, Prismacolors, Stonehenge, Pablos, Luminance, Alyona Nickelsen, chocolate bar, chocolate candy drawing, color swatches, Colored Pencil Painting Bible, fun size candy bar, Snickers bar, Add a tag
Snickers "fun size" bar
6" x 8", colored pencils on paper
Did I tell you my dream about Einstein? A while back I dreamed I called him up, and after introducing myself and telling him I was an illustrator, somehow (through the magic of dreams) we were sitting across a table from each other at a cafe or something. I started showing him my chocolate drawings, and he says to me (in that affable, smiley way, with the goofy hair) "You should do more!".
And right after that, I had this commission! The client wanted the wrapper torn 'just so', similar to my Heath Bar drawing I did a while back. So I had the arduous task of tearing open wrappers and taking pics to email over, until I got one that was just right. (Of course 'someone' had to eat all those opened Snickers bars - good thing they were 'fun size'.)
I thought it was finished at this stage, below. I even signed it. The client loved it, but wondered very gently if maybe the wrapper could be darker?
She was right. Sometimes when you look at something for too long, you can have trouble really 'seeing it' properly. I went out shopping or something for a while, then came back and added some color to both the wrapper and the chocolate, and voila - perfect!
I used mostly Polychromos on this, except for the red on the wrapper (LOVE Prismacolor's Permanent Red), but then came back in with some Prismacolor chocolatey browns to add a little 'more' to it over all.
This was done on Stonehenge paper, since all of my other candy drawings have been on that, and I wanted it to look the same (I've been switching over to Fabriano Artistico Hot Press for other work lately.)
I decided to make a swatch chart of all my chocolate colored colored pencils, so I'll really know what I have to work with. Sometimes chocolate is orangey, sometimes purpley, and the shadows can go almost black. The wrappers aren't always chocolate colored, but when they are, the same thing applies.
Terrible scans of how the whole chart looks ...
And terrible close ups of them (sorry) so you can kind of see what I did.
I did Prismacolors, Pablos, Polychromos, and Luminance.
There are gaps, because at first I was going to try to match colors by name across brands, but that all fell apart pretty fast, and I ended up with a sort of disorganized mess. But it works for me.
(Every time I do swatches I have flashbacks to Illustration 2 class at the Academy of Art, where we had to make watercolor and gouache swatches of all our new paints - and they had to be perfect, an exact size, all lined up in straight rows ... actually I think we did them on watercolor paper, then cut them out and pasted them onto a sheet of illustration board with rubber cement - crazy, but they were beautiful, and I used them for years and years. But I digress ...)
This is what they look like when I just do them for me, and just want to get a splotch of color down so I can see what I have. It still surprises me sometimes when I think a color is going to be one thing, based on the casing or lead, then it looks totally different when it goes down on paper. Luminance are the ones that do that the most I think.
I have Alyona Nickelson's Colored Pencil Painting Bible, and in it she shows how she swatches her pencils. GURL, she be crazy (I mean that in a good way), but very thorough and totally impressive. She does color 'mixes', as well as un-burnished and burnished. I considered doing something like that with these, since its the mixture of colors that will make just the right chocolate color for each drawing, but then couldn't wrap my brain around how to do it without making it my life's work.
Alyona does have a cool tip about printing your swatches out onto clear paper (like overhead projector transparencies) so you can then lay them over a partially rendered drawing, and see exactly how a new color applied will look. I think that's worth a try.
But I know myself, and figure I'll just do tests as I go along, each time I do a drawing.
For fun, I just googled "drawings of chocolate", and found this Pinterest page which has a lot of cool art (and a few of my pieces too).
I've made prints of this piece available in my etsy shop.
Next up is a small architectural food piece . . .
0 Comments on Snickers Bar as of 5/20/2014 8:56:00 PM
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 3/17/2013
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cats, Photoshop, Polychromos, colored pencils, kitties, Pope, Rome, children's book art, botanical art, Pablos, red rose leaves, Catholic Cardinals, etsy shop thoughts, digital colored pencil, cats in costumes, Add a tag
I had this drawing on the board back when the conclave first started, but then the cats all got sick (they're fine now - BAD head cold, BAD BAD BAD) and that went on for an endless couple of weeks, and I got a little behind, playing nurse and all.
(please click on this to see it bigger)
These are some of the CATholic cardinals who didn't get elected Pope, out for a stroll through Rome, seeing the sites, and scouting for a place to have a nice plate of fishy pasta.
I had a lot of fun doing this one! Its a combination of colored pencil and Photoshop. A while back I figured out how to do a 'digital colored pencil' technique, but then got sidetracked with something else and never really developed that idea. I think now that I will go back to it, and see if I can put together a portfolio of children's book pieces that are all done that way. TALL ORDER. But hey, one piece at a time. I'll blog as I go, so you can stumble along with me.
I also finished this red rose leaves piece. This is ALL colored pencil, the old fashioned kind. I have some photos of other leaves and buds that I would like to do, and make this a series. This one was done with Polychromos and Pablos (both oil based), on Stonehenge paper, and is just under 8"x 8" (20.32 x 20.32 cm). I will do prints in the shop as soon as I am able. Today maybe.
Speaking of the shop - I'm changing the paper I use for prints from the semi-gloss I've been using, to Epson Presentation Matte. I like it a lot better. Its a lighter weight, but I love the crisp images it produces. It also works really well for less "shiny" subject matter (like candy in foil wrappers). I still have some of the semi-gloss though, so if you would prefer that for something, please let me know.
I have to tweak my whole shop (today's chore) to include the new paper, as well as adjust some prices for shipping. I'll think I have it all sorted out, then I'll get a sale to a new (to me) country that has crazy expensive shipping, and I'll have to include that in all the listings. Like Australia, for example. What I could send here in the US for $3.50 will cost $9 to Australia sometimes. I hate having to charge so much to ship things, but I also hate to get a rude surprise at the post office, and find out I've just lost all my profit on the sale to under-charged shipping. Those of you with shops know what I'm talking about. Its the least fun part of having a shop. I just want to make the art!
1 Comments on Cardinals and Roses, last added: 3/20/2013
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By: floating lemons,
on 2/17/2013
Blog: Bit by Bit (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: chilies drawing, green chillies art, vegetables illustration, Moleskine, quick sketch, Drawings, Colored Pencil, colored pencils, vegetables, Floating Lemons, Mariana Musa, coloured pencils, Add a tag
Blog: Bit by Bit (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: chilies drawing, green chillies art, vegetables illustration, Moleskine, quick sketch, Drawings, Colored Pencil, colored pencils, vegetables, Floating Lemons, Mariana Musa, coloured pencils, Add a tag
I was supposed to post this two days ago ... but real life got in the way of finishing it up. So a quick sketch it will remain.
I had to remind myself halfway through that I'm trying to loosen up in my drawings! So the delicate structure I set up to start off with became a mass of sketchy lines instead. I'm quite pleased with the results, unfinished though it might look. Well, that's probably because it is .... not quite done. Here's the final scan and a couple of images of what I did to get there:
Drawn in my large moleskine journal with an assortment of coloured pencils. Cheers.
By: Paula Pertile,
on 12/30/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: goals, architectural rendering, Polychromos, colored pencils, Stonehenge, house portrait, Pablos, teapot illustration, Just Draw It online drawing course, Add a tag
The end of another year. Where did it go? This one really seemed to whoosh by.
I finished a nice house rendering commission just before Christmas. Isn't this a charming home? Its so nice to work on a piece that's something you like drawing. This was a special portrait of a family home for the owners, who will (sadly) be moving. So it was kind of bittersweet.
This was done with Polychromo and Pablo pencils on Stonehenge paper.
One big goal for 2013 is to expand my architectural rendering / house portrait business. I have samples done in different styles, and want to put together a commission page on my website, or maybe even a whole separate site, just for this. I work in color as well as black and white, and do colored pencil, ink, and watercolor. I also have some new exciting ideas for "alternative", more decorative styles that are not so photo realistic. So that's a BIG "to-do" thing on my list!
* * * * *
I posted this Teapot illustration a while back, and have now listed it as a print in the shop.
Another goal for this next year is to keep working on all my shops. I have ideas for oodles of art and designs, but only two hands and 24 hours in a day. You know how it is! Guess we all have that. So I'm trying to balance out what I want to make (just because I want to make it), with what people will actually want to buy. (Sometimes they're not the same thing.)
I've also raised my print prices just a hair, especially on the really "ink heavy" pieces. I've learned the hard way that printers really love to drink ink! Especially magenta. I am very thankful for Office Depot's free home delivery service, which I have taken advantage of many times over the past couple of months!
Its a constant learning curve, crunching the numbers on selling things you make yourself, making sure you stay in the black. But that could be another whole post in itself. Prices for similar things on etsy can vary wildly, and I'm always amazed that some people charge what they do and seem to sell a lot, while others practically give it away and set the bar way too low. Don't even get me started on what people charge for knitting!
Anyways.
* * * * *
One of my artist followers, Koosje Koene in the Netherlands, has let me know about a new online drawing course she's offering.
"It's a six week course in which the participants will get weekly updates with tutorials, step-by-step instructions, video's, photos, and lots of practical tips on drawing techniques and illustrating. Unlike many other online courses, each participant will be provided with my feedback on exercises and assignments they do. Apart from that, the course is full of unique content, practical tips, tricks and fun."
Looks like fun. I hope lots of people sign up Koosje!
* * * * *
So guess that's about it for me, for now. Like you probably are, I'm half relaxing, and half making big plans for next year. We're having some nice California sun here, which is lovely. The cats are out sunning themselves on the back porch or in windows, while I make yet another cup of Peet's coffee and either draw or knit or do this or make lists.
I sincerely hope this next year is full of good health and prosperity and joy for everyone. Things have been rough for too long. There will always be challenges, but hopefully they will just be little bumps, not mountains.
Happy New Year everyone!
6 Comments on Out with the old, in the with the new, last added: 1/25/2013
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 10/8/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, candy corn, framed drawings, small little drawings, Add a tag
You know I had to draw some candy corn. I mean, you go into the store, and its right there, on every shelf, just begging you to buy it and make yourself sick eating too much of it (which I have done already).
I decided to do these small (2 x 3 inches). Polychromos on Stonehenge.
I bought some little frames.
And I think I'll put them on etsy and see what happens.
My idea is to make really small little originals that I will sell for $25 or so (maybe $28, to allow for all the fees, to still clear $25), plus the cost of a frame. People can opt to buy them with or without the frame, and I will also sell little prints.
I'm signing them on the back, since there's so little room on the front. With a 2 x 3 frame, the "live area" is really only about 1.5 x 2.5, because the frame cuts into the space of the drawing. So I had to make sure these 'floated' within that safe zone.
I'm having fun thinking up ideas of other things to draw. If you have ideas, or would like to commission something, please let me know!
0 Comments on Candy Corn as of 10/8/2012 4:52:00 PM
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/30/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, taffys, another un-still life, maybe I'll do some larger pieces, please commission me to do a big piece for you, Add a tag
I can't stop ...
Taffys © Paula Pertile
8 x 10, colored pencils on paper
(This scan needs a bit of cleaning up on one edge, but I went ahead and posted it anyway.)
These are so much fun! I liked the idea of them raining down, and one going on through the paper. I hope it reads that way, rather than just a half of one sitting there on the bottom of the page.
I'm looking forward to doing more of these, now that I have my feet wet with this idea. Maybe some larger pieces? I usually work pretty small. I think something like this, LARGE, would be pretty cool on someone's wall, yes? (If you are such a person, and would like to commission me to do something for you, please don't be shy!)
2 Comments on Taffys - another Un-Still Life, last added: 7/31/2012
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By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/19/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: colored pencils, Stonehenge paper, figs, reasons for being 'off', flying food, art mojo taking a holiday, un-still life, Add a tag
© Paula Pertile
8x10, Prismacolors and Polychromos on Stonehenge paper
I think I'm back to my old self, drawing-wise.
This is what I do best - simple still lifes, with a clean background. I went on a bit of a "draw about" (like a walkabout, except with drawing - and yes, I just made that up) there for a while, and scratched a couple of itches. Its good to get out of your comfort zone now and then and try new things, because that's how you discover new ideas, techniques, or approaches to things. But then its nice to take whatever you learned and come back to your real self.
I noticed there for a while I was drawing things with a muted palette, and I was struggling with some of the "out of my comfort zone" pieces. I started to wonder what was up with that. Was I depressed? Were my eyes going? Was it the lighting on my drawing table? Were the planets lined up funny, or was Mercury in Retrograde for a way long time? Or what?
I think (no, I know) sometimes we artists have 'off' periods, where we're not as productive, or things aren't turning out as brilliantly as we would like. Sure, inspiration takes a holiday sometimes, but also, if you just sit down and work every day, and keep doing something, it all comes back around eventually.
I think I'll take this idea of an un-still life and run with it. I knew I wanted to draw these figs, but didn't know what I wanted to do with them. I was trying to create an interesting arrangement, and it just came to me to have them floated up to the top of the page. I started this idea of flying food a while back with my "Pulling Up Roots" piece, then for whatever reason didn't keep going with it.
By: Paula Pertile,
on 7/10/2012
Blog: Drawing a Fine Line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Olympics, colored pencils, too hot, pretzels, olympic rings, Add a tag
I had this idea as I was going to bed the other night. I was thinking of what I wanted to draw next, and thought "ooh, maybe pretzels", then BAM, from wherever these things come from, this fell and hit me.
Its all done with colored pencils. I could have done a digital piece, but that wouldn't have been any fun.
I will now be scurrying to make products in my shops so folks can (hopefully) buy a shirt or stein or something with this image on it to enhance their Olympic-watching experience.
(Apologies for the © notice overkill, but I figure this is exactly the kind of image that will be ripe for plucking.)
Is it hot where you live? Its 100 and something here. Bleah.
4 Comments on Olympic Pretzel Rings, last added: 7/14/2012
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Glad the kitties are better! Love the new illustrations - those cats are awesome :)