I don't have many works where cats form the central theme of the image, but often they're in the background or part of the narrative, like these text illustrations from the Charlie Bone novels (Japanese edition), where three mysterious cats are an important part of the plot.
February already? Seems like we were just celebrating New Years! These two kids appear to be celebrating the fact that their rambunctious kitten has finally calmed down and fallen asleep. Shhhhhhh...
~Jenny B Harris
I don't have much in the way of Christmas Elves, but the woodland and brownie varieties are a different matter. This is one of two pieces I produced for a Japanese children's calendar back in the day.
John Shelley
Happy Holidays, to everyone.
May wild dancing ensue...
with a little dress-up, some pearls... a mermaid fin and some bunny ears.
What would happen if you took dinosaurs skating on your local pond?
This is from Don't Invite Dinosaurs to Dinner, Red robin books, 2012
I made this card after my nephew became paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident. He is a fan of Winston Churchill, hence the bulldog. I think it helped me more than him. HA! CBDecker
Cooling off in the "dog days" with my poodle pal.
By Sally Springer
What I will show is slightly different. This is a character development of a real person. This is from a book that is just being released this month.
The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans.
 |
The Poppy Lady
Illustrated by Layne Johnson
Written by Barbara Walsh and published by Calkins Creek |
It was an interesting adventure because Moina was well known enough to have her own stamp, and a liberty ship named after her in WWII. But unfortunately, photo reference of her at the time of the narrative (1918) was scant. And for someone who had a quick smile, she’s never seen in photos smiling! Also I would have to paint her when she was 16 for a prologue. The main reference that her relatives wanted to go by was a painting of her done several years after the main story. So here goes. First the prologue.
 |
| Photo of Moina at 16 |
 |
| Rough Poser rendering at 16 |
 |
| Sketch of Moina at 16 (Yikes! Her hand is too small!) |
 |
| Painting of Moina at 16 for book. | |
|
But the conundrum was showing Moina at the time of the narrative –
1918.
The reference I could locate and was supplied with was earlier by several years and later by several years. So for her body size and weight we had to go by writings.
She basically put on some weight after the war.
And it’s odd in later photos of her with people. Everyone is standing and looking at the camera except her. She's standing at an angle and not smiling or looking at the camera.
 |
| My portrait of her |
Like the last photo – which btw is what they used as reference for her stamp.
She was posing like her stamp!
Notice no glasses in the portrait and stamp photo.
So my first renderings of her I thought were accurate but the publisher thought she looked a bit “mannish” like Mrs. Doubtfire!
To which I argued, “Well, she was!”
Anyway the decision was made to soften her up so I did. I took the painting and basically regressed her to account for age, weight, and of course glasses. More normal clothing too and less dower expression.
And they were pleased.
From this...
To this...
To the final painting...
Anyway it was an interesting journey.
And it was a blast working in the Edwardian time period!
www.laynejohnson.comSee my book trailers on YouTube!
I was excited when I heard that November's theme is "Dinosaurs" because I'm in the midst of drawing exactly that. Actually the book is about dinosaur tracks and the science of studying the tracks. The tracks provide clues to the movement, behavior, what they ate, lots of information about dinosaurs come from their footprints. Hopefully I'll be posting more dinos as the month goes along.
Happy November everybody!
Cathy Morrison
Well, it just so happens I have illustrated a Dinosaur Book for Red Robin Books,
Don't Invite Dinosaurs to Dinner, written by Neil Griffiths. It came out in Jan 2012.
I did this illustration for a magazine article about feeding time at the zoo and all of the different meals the staff had to prepare. I decided to put the animals in a fancy restaurant setting. The piece mentioned a naked mole rat, and I didn't want to miss my chance to paint one! Done in ink and watercolor.
A silly illustration for Pockets magazine. ~ Jenny B Harris
... there are monkeys and stuff.
This is an illustration I did awhile ago, the princess stayed up late and is going to sleep.
By Susan Miller
future queen, Princess, sleeping
Here's a bit of royalty... a royal python. This was from my very first all digital book, 'The Smile Shop' by Joy Cowley. It was done with a mix of Illustrator, drawing with pencil and finished in Photoshop.
It was fun, but a taxing project as I recall... trying to learn how it all worked and create a new art style.
It's funny that I didn't pursue this line-less style. I'll have to get back to it someday, since artwork without lines seems to be quite popular.
By John Nez
Some will already have seen this as my email summer greeting. Here it is on the blog, minus text.
Little brother from I Like Old Clothes, by Mary Ann Hoberman, Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
So cute.