new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: #pblit, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 36
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: #pblit in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
And it's time for Mr. Bear to finally say 'Bear is finished!'
I like these step by step progressions so if you scroll through the arrows on the images you can see how each image changes.
And of course with photoshop there are many, many changes to be accomplished.
When in doubt, make french toast!
By:
John Nez,
on 6/7/2015
Blog:
John Nez
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
#kidlit,
step by step illustration,
#kidlitart,
#picturebooks,
#pblit,
art,
drawing,
bear,
#childrensbooks,
Add a tag
And of course everyone is waiting for the latest 'bear update' - well here it is. As you can see if you scroll down through a little, the figure began in a swirl of vague forms driven by the gesture. But now it's coming right along... taking care not to lose the spontaneity of the rough sketch.
My secret sauce will add some rough splashy color to increase the spontaneity.
I think I fell for the socks on this one. I had to get out my 'french toast brush' to correctly render the breakfast. It was interesting working from the rough sketch to a rough finish - with lots of fun on the way getting there.
And this child reminded me of my own child way back when... at the start when life was all wonderful.
In today's chapter of the 'Busy Drawers For Fun Club' I'm drawing a farm. This is about as close as I'm going to get to illustrating a scene from Charlotte's Web - so I quite enjoyed it. The girl reminded me of Fern. I just wished the script called for Wilbur - since I do love drawing pigs. In fact my nickname as a stout young lad was 'Pig'.
Out of the swirling chaos forms appear - sifted out from dozens of other choices. Soon enough the favorite choice gets made - or the current favorite I might say.
Draw, draw away idle dreamer of bears! I think this bear may have stolen my heart away, but I shouldn't tell him that.
I made this little movie of a rough drawing I'm working on... just for fun. The rough drawing is always so much fun, because it's all a discovery. Invention, artistry, problem solving - an excellent diversion when one finds oneself imprisoned in a quiet distant room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W71_6biMnSY&feature=youtu.beIt's not much of a movie actually, but I was in a hurry and it was fun - my two excuses. Maybe I'll make a better one some time. I think it might require 30 minutes to do an in depth drawing demonstration - so one does what one can.
I don't want to think about the file size of a 30 minute .mov file - or how long it'd take to render!
By:
John Nez,
on 5/11/2015
Blog:
John Nez
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
coffee,
happy holidays,
vintage illustration,
Sundance,
#childrensbooks,
#kidlit,
#kidlitart,
#picturebooks,
#pblit,
confuscious pen,
G.P Putnams,
ghost illustration,
Add a tag
Life as a freelancer is chaotic and unpredictable. So I decided if I ever gave a SCBWI talk on how to prepare for a career as a children's book illustrator I would advise developing three basic skills.
1) practice your expertise in Photoshop
2) practice your expertise at 'Whack-a-Mole'
3) practice your expertise at playing 'Publisher Poker' - which is the fine art of trying to juggle deadlines and art directors without losing your mind or going broke.
It was fun having a bunch of my fictional illustration buddies drop by the studio. So I captured the event on film... lol!
Once every blue moon I like to do an 'art piece' like this. I just can't help it - so it's easier to give in than resist. This was inspired by a scene from a BBC - PBS production - it's dark and somber instead of my usual cartoony dish of happy nursery fodder. I guess the fun part of making 'art' is one can just let go and be messy. This was all done with the wacom in photoshop.
And then add a paper bag and mix in Shakespeare and a cat and you're done.
The evolution of Shakespeare into a cat. I'm not sure why this is important, but I felt compelled to finish drawing it out. I think Ben Johnson had a closer relationship with his cat. I read that he had a servant to keep it's bowl stocked with fresh vittles.
I spent days drawing monkeys - with the consequence that when I went out to the market shopping - yes, I looked at people and saw monkeys - especially guys with beards. The inevitable parallels all get immediately drawn. I felt kind of bad about it, coming to that conclusion but don't hold myself to blame personally. Anyhow, nowadays on NOVA on PBS they openly refer to our kind as primates - cuz we are! lol! (insert chimp laugh here - like Cheeta on Tarzan - and why did Tarzan name his monkey Cheeta?)
Here is my very first portfolio - the 30 lb 'jumbo boy'. It was gigantic and filled with astounding work! Art directors loved it. They ate it up like cake.
Each new portfolio I made got smaller and smaller until now they fit on an iPhone. But there's something to be said for the 'Jumbo Boy'. Art directors had to clear their desk just to look at it.
I think the amazing thing is that I drew those in ink straight onto the newsprint page without any pencil or rough sketch. I loved how the fountain pen ink sank into the newsprint.
By:
John Nez,
on 3/22/2015
Blog:
John Nez
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
'balloon boy',
#childrensbooks,
#kidlit,
#kidlitart,
#picturebooks,
#pblit,
e-books,
ebooks,
step by step,
Ladybug,
Add a tag
And in a moment or two, the scanned line turns into full color techno-fruit! And to think they pay me to do this... in the rainy cold dark before the sun's even up.
Imagination can bring great joy. It's such a delight to pull joy out of thin air with nothing but imagining to guide the way. Imagination and a wacom and an eraser that is.
Of course fears are also imagination at work and not at all delightful - so one struggles to work against those.
What people think I do all day...
What my cat thinks I do all day...
What I really do all day...
A bubbly woodland party brings out only the very best furry guests. From an upcoming book that I had a wonderful time painting.
Here's my idea of a fun Halloween party. This story was inspired one November morning by too much leftover halloween candy and coffee.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa is coming to FedEx this Holiday season. My book, 'Mouse's Christmas Cookie' will be appearing nationwide this season at 420 FedEx outlets. So shoppers who are desperate for that last minute gift might want to make that impulse purchase and grab a copy.
I scarcely ever set foot in my old FedEx (Kinko's) since I got my own wide format printer. And I miss having my regular FedEx driver who used to drop by twice a week. Those were the days.
'My Cherry Tree' was my first authored published book - by a Korean publisher. It was quite poetic and they scarcely made any changes to the text. Here's a sample of the writing:
On hot days I lie on the grass under my
cherry tree and watch the clouds .
Some look like elephants.. some look like horses.
The robins learned to fly. They all flew away.
It feels lonesome without them.
Summer has turned into autumn.
The leaves on my cherry tree turn golden and red.
They dance away like fire in the wind.
I help mother rake a pile of leaves as tall as me!
I get to jump right in and play.
There's just something about new stationary. Going back to school used to mean all those fun new things - new peachy folders (with that eternal sports design in a yellowy tone), new pencils and a new blue canvas snap-ring binder. Now it mostly just means a new computer class for my kids. But these critters are having fun regardless. They probably like that new school smell as much as I did.
The once happy little red fox thinks she isn't good enough... but Grandfather fox knows better. I liked the folk tale nature that these characters allowed. And I like the mountain meadow setting.
Here is a joyous little critter living in the moment. Happiness spinning like a top.
View Next 10 Posts
