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By: Joy Chu,
on 6/18/2013
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* NOTE: The above is from an interview that was featured in UCSD Extension's Blog last fall, just before I began teaching the on-line version of my class, "Illustrating Books for Children"/Winter 2013 Quarter. — JC
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Tonia Allen Gould,
on 6/10/2013
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By:
Mark G. Mitchell,
on 5/25/2013
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So what is musician-performer-dancer-composer Lindsey Stirling doing on this blog about children’s book illustration? She’s an artist but she works in a different medium. She hasn’t published a children’s picture book. (Not yet, anyway, but give her time.) I’m sharing this video of her 2011 tune Shadows, because twenty-two million YouTube viewers are not wrong […]
I've been incorporating more ink wash into my work lately and getting some interesting results! I'm always keen to balance expressiveness with a certain polish and I think this helps to that end.
There is an art to simultaneously running and farting. To be properly mastered, it takes an expert combination of selective muscle control and timing with your stride.
That said, there are few things more gratifying than running and letting go of that abominable bubble of gas in your intestines. The joy of letting one rip is only exponentially rewarding when you’ve been carrying along a potential GI disaster for miles, painfully holding back, but then realize that rather than a number 2 on your hands, the mounting, monster pain-ball was only…GAS!! Pit stop averted.
Go along and keep perfecting your running farts, Runners. Though, what separates the Lukes from the Yodas among is are the ones who can relax/contract/time during races and hard workouts without losing so much of a millisecond off their pace.
——
GI issues for runners addressed HERE and HERE.
More Runner’s Strip and cartons HERE.
——
1) Worst GI nightmare run?
2) Name a time when you thought it was going to be a nightmare number 2 episode while running but then realized it was just a big ball of gas…you can’t tell me the amount of relief you feel is nearly euphoric.
3) Do you have any shame letting a painful gas ball go while running? Do you hold back during certain times or in certain company?
By:
Eric Orchard,
on 5/9/2013
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Another peek at my new print, coming soonish! It's all done, inked, coloured etc. and ready to print.
I am doing a lot of waiting at the moment. I can't proceed with my mural until I get the go-ahead on the rough and I am also waiting to hear back from publishers about book projects. I hate that 'in-limbo' feeling, so have decided to get on with other things and forget about it all.
Over the Bank Holiday weekend, I was inspired by all the different work I saw at Sheffield's Open Up. It's so lovely to visit other local artists, especially in their work space. Since the weather was so lovely at the start of the week, I took my pastels out into the Peak District for some sketching:
I don't normally use pastels on location, as they are really messy, tricky to transport and the results are a bit of a nightmare to get home unscathed (especially as I can never resist the double-page spread). But I tried doing it once last year, during a SketchCrawl out in Edale and was really pleased with the results...
...so I had another go on Tuesday morning. The one below was what I spent most time on. The light changed a lot, as the sun was in and out, which was quite a challenge, but I didn't mind, as I wasn't trying for naturalism, more an impression, capturing colours and shapes:
I tried fixing it, but of course, all the colours were immediately dimmed and it lost its impact (grrrrrrr...), so I then spent ages reworking it, to brighten it up, and didn't spray it again.
Then I did the drawing at the top very quickly, as the sun had gone and things had turned windy and cold. I used a 2nd sketchbook, so as not to damage the first drawing any more than was necessary.
I was back in the studio by lunchtime, so felt very pleased with myself. It was just what I needed to kick-start the day.You can see the rest of my sketchbooks on my website or, if you are interested to watch me create a sketch, take a look at this film from my YouTube channel:
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By: Leslie Ann Clark,
on 4/16/2013
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Once again, it is time for the 2nd Big Peepsqueak Give-A-Way!
Will you be the winner?
Will you get a box in the mail full of Peep goodies?
This time around, the prize is for both of my books, “Peepsqueak”, and “Peepsqueak Wants A Friend,” AND a Peepsqueak plush toy!
Are you up for it?
Here are your 2 easy instructions:
1. If you have not read Peepsqueak yet, go to the story link below and listen to Brad Mendleson read it aloud.
2. Go to the Amazon link below, and give me a review. So I know you are entering the contest, start your review with the words, “I LOVE PEEPSQUEAK!”. If you have read the second book, please feel free to review it too. At the end of two weeks, I will take the names off the Amazon site and put them in a bowl and pick the winner!!! You will be able to watch me draw your name!! Here are the links!
Peepsqueak story link: http://www.readmeastory.tv/category/read-me-a-story/
Amazon review link: http://www.amazon.com/Peepsqueak-Leslie-Ann-Clark/product-reviews/0062078011/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_3?ie=UTF8&pageNumber=3&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
Please SHARE this with others. Peepsqueak is waiting for you!!
love, Leslie Ann and Peepsqueak!
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By:
sketched out,
on 4/15/2013
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Maggie and Buttercup were wild about tea.
The word of the week, over there at Illustration Friday is “wild,” but all I could scare up was this docile boar, so he’ll just have to do.
 |
| Spiders |
Right now I'm working on a book of my adult short stories called,
Short Stories and Other Imaginings For The Reading Spot. Some pictures will be sketching and some in shades of gray, (not fifty shades!) This one is for a story called Spiders, a short short, about two paragraphs long. In the story the woman is working an apple press while she thinks about the things that are happening in her life.
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sketch for Janoose & The Fall feather Fair
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Another project I'm doing sketches for is a sequel for my children's book, Janoose The Goose called,
Janoose & The Fall Feather Fair. The Fox returns to Free Range Farm and he wants something from Janoose!
This book I co-wrote with my grandson. It's in the sketching stage as you can see by the picture. Hope you will come back to see how these two projects progress.
Thanks, JD
Last month, Sheffield University began allowing the public limited access to a secret, little, teaching museum, which was created in 1905 for the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences: the Alfred Denny Museum.
It's just one room, but full of wonderfully traditional, wooden-framed display cases and slender, wooden drawers, all of which are crammed with skeletons, taxidermy and odd things floating in jars. Sketching heaven. Unfortunately, we were only allowed 1 hour, and that included the very interesting 20 minute talk by a 3rd year student, about the acquisition of some of the stranger creatures.
I whizzed round with my sketchbook and captured specimens as they caught my eye. I was using my brand new Sailor pen for the first time:
It's designed for Japanese calligraphy, but it is just the ticket for on-location sketching as, though it's a fountain pen, it allows for extreme variations in line width, and glides really smoothly across the page, because of its curiously bent nib:
The sketch below is only about a 3rd of the massive python skeleton mounted on the wall in the university foyer:
Some interesting news: the museum's curator likes the sound of SketchCrawling and it looks like we might get back in soon, for a longer session this time, just for sketchers. Can't wait!!
The other nice thing, was that I got 2 new recruits to SketchCrawl North while I was drawing. That's what I love about sketching in public: people just come up and chat, so you make all sorts of new connections.
We've tried a few times to film my workshops and lectures, but the events which have granted us permission to film, have all taken place in a shared space, like in a library, which means too much background noise. The recording John made at the Hallam University lecture was the same: there were students in an adjacent studio, chatting, laughing, coughing or just walking about, which on the film made it sound like my audience was bored!
So, we decided to try something different - a film of me sketching out on location. We went for a walk up into the Limb Valley and John filmed over my shoulder at I painted.
It was weird though: I had thought, after all these years of sketching in public, that being filmed would be no problem at all but, for some reason, I found it incredibly off-putting. The camera, which needed to be right beside my face, to provide the best view of the sketchbook, felt really oppressive. The pressure to do something 'good' meant, of course, I was convinced I was creating rubbish from the very outset. Despite my smiles at the end of the film, I was very grumpy (poor John)! It's a good thing we decided to go for a voice-over, otherwise you'd have had to listen to all my grumbling and swearing.
Hopefully you can't tell that from the film though. I still think I've done better sketches, but I'm hoping it's interesting to watch it evolve on the page and hear why I am making various creative decision during the process.
If you do enjoy it, please share it with your friends. Plus, if you like this one and haven't yet seen any of the others, take a look at the film page on my website or subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Here's a pretty new commission I did , a drawing of Maddy, which ended up being a slight redesign of the flying boat...
Today I'm going back and forth between a new book cover contract and finishing my new Spring print, which I hope will be done before Summer....
Over the Easter weekend, we had (bizarrely) two music festivals here: the Sheffield Sessions folk festival and CADS Blues and Beer Festival. It was clearly too good a SketchJam opportunity to miss!
We sketchers gathered up our drawing gear and got stuck in on Saturday afternoon at
The Shakespeare pub. Les and I sketched there
last year. This year we were five strong.
It was a tiny room, full from the start. Despite this, more and more musicians turned up during the first hour, squeezing into every corner, standing up or sitting on instrument cases, joining in with whatever music was in progress.
I soon found I could only see bits and pieces, around the people sitting in front of me, so I had to move the pints aside and sit up on a table. Luckily, it turned out to be very comfortable up there.
The music was wonderful and the musicians such a joy to draw. I love the challenge of trying to capture the energy and movement, as well as the difficulty of making sense of hands that are in constant motion.
It all died down about 5.30 and most of the musicians and sketchers left. Les and I were waiting for our other halves, before moving on to the blues festival in the evening, so we stayed behind. Which was lucky because, less than an hour later, a fresh batch of musicians began to trickle in. They took turns playing for one another, or helped out by adding harmonies or accompaniment:
The blues event later in the evening was completely different. We were in a basement gig space, painted black, with a tiny stage in one corner. It wasn't too packed, but the audience were all standing and the light was very low - neither of which were ideal for sketching.
I gave it a go anyway. Standing up meant just one pencil at a time, but there was no way to use colour in the dark anyway. Luckily I had a tin full of little, pre-sharpened end-stubs of soft graphite sticks. I filled my pockets and I worked my way through them, drawing as best I could.
I couldn't tell whether what I was doing was really working, because I couldn't judge tonal values or see much of my mark-making, but could see enough to be able to gauge space on the page, which was enough. I was encouraged when John used the torch on his phone to reveal that the drawings were in fact looking pretty good.
After the first band though, I once again found my view disappearing and, being short, I was only getting glimpses between heads. Under normal circumstances, I might well have given up drawing at this point but, because we had been out since lunchtime (and it was by now about 10pm), I had drunk more lager than I would generally...
By now any residual self-consciousness was long gone, so I climbed up onto a ledge at the side of the room, which gave me a view over the audience's heads:
We started home just after midnight, with the event still in full swing behind us. Unfortunately, because it was that evening when the clocks went forward, it was actually getting on for two in the morning by the time my head hit the pillow. What a great day though - a big thanks to my sketch-buddy Les for suggesting it!
You can see some of the other sketches people did in the afternoon on the
SketchCrawl North page. There are also lots of my other
sketchbooks on my website.
If you would like to come along to a sketching event, just
drop me an email and I'll put you on the list for my e-newsletter, which will give you all the information you need to join us.
Events are free and untaught: it's all for fun. We are just a bunch of people who enjoy sharing the experience of drawing together on location.
By:
sketched out,
on 4/1/2013
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Yes folks, more tortured puns from a humble April fool.
By:
sketched out,
on 3/31/2013
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Quickly eggsecuted and puns intended!
Happy Happy, everyone!!!
We had a SketchCrawl day last weekend, but we woke up to thick snow. We were supposed to be drawing in a local park in the morning, then capturing a performance by the Sheffield Oratorio Chorus in the afternoon.
The concert was cancelled, which was quite ironic, since we were due to draw them last winter and were snowed off then too. I decided to give the park a go anyway. Even if nobody else turned up, the walk through the beautiful snow and the cosy park cafe at the end seemed reason enough, so I donned long-johns, multiple layers, walking boots, gaiters, silly hat etc and headed out.
The 6 inch deep snow made it quite a trek. I would have loved to draw the trees, all picked out in white, but it was really very chilly so, like everybody else that morning, I took refuge in the cafe. It was pretty chaotic in there: quite lively, quite well stuffed and very noisy.
Only 3 other sketchers made it. Colleen had headed off alone into the snow by the time I arrived (making me think of poor Captain Oates...). I huddled with Martin and Heather in one corner. John joined us after a bit, though without a sketchbook, so he didn't count.
Drawing people in cafes is always quite a challenge; much
more tricky than trains. People move, to chat, eat and drink (how very selfish of them). At least I had a nice big table to lay out my sketching bits, with no danger of losing my pencils in crevices...
When I had finished these sketches, I rewarded myself with a nice lunch and a mochachino (John got lunch too, though he didn't do any work, so I'm not sure he deserved any). Unlike some of my sketcher friends, I gobbled it up while it was hot and didn't wait to draw it:
Then, reluctantly, we pulled our hats back on and started the walk back up the hill.
This time last week, I was on the east coast, celebrating my birthday with good friends.
The coastal area around Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby is one of my favourite places and somewhere John and I return to again and again. We got engaged at Robin Hood's Bay and so started our honeymoon there too. Unbelievably, that was 20 years ago this summer, which makes me feel really rather old!
This time, we rented a lighthouse cottage, high on top of the crumbling cliffs above Whitby. Very dramatic:
Given the time of year, we were pretty lucky with the weather, though it did rain on me while I was out painting this view of the cliff. I had to stop as it got heavier, but I rather like the speckle-effect:
We mainly pottered about on the beach, as recently melted snow made it too muddy to walk along the coastal path. The boys had fun hunting fossils - there are loads to be found in that area:
I mainly hung behind, drawing and painting the cliffs and the sea.
I just love the patterns and colours you can pull out of the rocks, the water and the sky:
It was all over way too quickly. But isn't that always the case when yiu are having fun?
Fearful symmetryink pen and color dye marker on paperGIF©2013 DAiN8)
Blue girl looking behind veil.ink pen and color dye marker on paper
GIF
©2013 DAiN8)
When I first started taking art classes and learning how to draw and paint, I made a mistake common to most new artists: I painted everything in the middle of my paper and without any kind of background. Everything I drew just kind of hung in mid-air without a context to keep it anchored within the (nonexistent) setting. Over and over I'd have to go back into my pictures and add my backgrounds, if I could be bothered to do so at all, and that wasn't always an easy thing to do.It was the same with my writing: I'd freewrite an exciting conflict scene out of the blue, add some troubled characters, and then have to figure out where they all came from. I'd have to travel back in fictional time and ask my characters questions straight out of a Henry James or Edith Wharton novel: "You want to marry whom? Where's he from? What's his background? Not one of those dreadful Van der Leeden Hoopsie-Kopecky boys is he??"A quick and easy fix to both these problems has been to tackle my backgrounds first. The benefits of this have been practically endless, not the least being "No More Blank Paper Staring Me in the Face," and "No More Wondering What to Write or Paint."This is especially helpful when I find myself with a limited amount of time to work on a project, for instance a spare half hour or two when I know I could do something creative, but I'm not sure where to start. Working on the background for a future painting or story is the perfect solution. For some well-spent art time, I try:- Gessoing art journal pages or full-size paper or canvases. (Admittedly not the most exciting item on my list, but getting it done ahead of time is a huge step forward.)
- Adding some color to the gesso--or simply using color on its own, perhaps mixed with a clear acrylic medium for texture and durability--is a great way to step up the excitement factor.
- As is experimenting with brushstrokes: swirls, linear patterned grids, stippled dots.
- Or doodling into wet gesso with a stick or the end of a paintbrush. A dry sponge or any other kind of imprint-making object is effective too.
- Abstract collage: old newspapers, junk mail, decorative art papers--tear them up, paste them down, paint over with either a thin coat of gesso or a clear acrylic medium.
- Sprinkle sand or seeds, confetti or even dirt into the damp medium for a super textural effect.
- If you want to go beyond an abstract design, try drawing or painting a background of a more structured surface such as stone, brick, or wood. Or practice painting or drawing drapery of different kinds of fabric: seersucker, silk, cotton, terry cloth.
While I'm working on these visual backgrounds, I find it's helpful to not think about what I might place in the foreground. My job at this stage is to build up a good collection of styles, colors, and textures that I can easily turn to when I've got the time and inspiration for a longer painting session.The same is true for writing. Having a collection of pre-written back stories on hand guarantees that I'll always have something and someone to write about in the future. You can do this too:- Without referring to any physical references such as a photograph or actual person, start by choosing a name at random, any name: Bunny McPherson; Lucky Holmes; Wendell Marlow. This is your new character. Now write about his or her early life: where have they come from?
- The ancestors--who are they? What's their story?
- Write about your character's childhood through the POV of a best friend--or a worst enemy.
- Write about the various settings in which you could place this person: e.g., home, work, vacation/travel spot.
- Write about a severe emotional trauma this person experienced as a child.
- What's this person's biggest secret?
- Place this character in a setting: restaurant, bus, city sidewalk, farmyard. Now envision the other people in the background: what are they doing? Who are they? How does your character interact with this background? Could any of them become secondary characters in a longer work?
I promise if you do this often enough and on a regular basis, a short story or novel will emerge without you even trying. Goal, conflict, and motivation--the big three essentials to plot and page-turning--are all in that background somewhere, just waiting to be uncovered.The best part of having all my backgrounds--written and visual--in place before I start any new work is that often the finished background will determine what my next piece will be. Two weekends ago I took out a large piece of paper I had pre-painted in various shades of yellow and green. It turned into a scene I titled "Sunday Lunch." The green leafiness of the background brushstrokes lent itself to framing a shady outdoor terrace set for a lunch party. And because I always think art and writing are but two sides of the one story-telling coin, I was next inspired to write about the people who were going to eat their lunch there--more background grist for the writing wheel!Tip of the Day: Shake it up: writers, try some painting! Artists--get our your pens and journals! Everybody: practice some backgrounds--ideally it would be fun to put both disciplines together into one lovely piece. How about writing a story or poem onto a painted background?
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Maybe instead of ‘ball’, I’ll do the same with the word ‘nut’… Also like the illustrations in Grandfather Gandhi – bold, but subtle in layered ways. Nice.
Mark, this is a wonderful post!! Thank you for the inspiration. AND how generous of you to share the other illustration courses. I have to add a plug for YOUR course which you humbly mentioned last. Mark’s course, Make Your Splashes; Make Your Marks!, was career and confidence changing for me! I feel so much more equipped to enter into the world of picture book publishing. Mark teaches a little history, as well as the craft itself and watercolor instruction that empowered me like never before. Reasonably priced and paced to your pocket book and schedule DO NOT MISS THIS excellent class. Mark is always encouraging and gives personal input and feedback. You will grow as an illustrator!