©Deborah Melmon
This illustration reminds me of one night at Lake Wanaka in New Zealand. A friend of mine and I were having dinner in an upstairs restaurant and we were seated near the window overlooking the courtyard below. A couple walked out of one of the courtyard restaurants and it was obvious that they were in an argument. We couldn't hear a word they were saying, but their body language said everything!
Here's a board book I did for Innovative Kids that is finally out. I started this book in October of 2007 and final artwork was submitted to the publisher in January of 2008 which was too late for Easter last year. So finally it is out! A cute concept.....a bag with the board book attached and dye-cut Easter eggs on the inside for kids to hide and collect. This spread is my favorite with the chick getting creative in his little farmhouse "art studio."
The art director and I went round and round trying to create a rabbit for the cover of this book. Our first attempts, which we both liked, did not pass the muster when presented to the marketing and sales people. I think the original rabbit looked too edgy and marketing wanted a cute, white, cuddly rabbit. I spent one weekend coming up with 15 different rabbits which were reviewed and this version was finally selected. Art by committee! :o)
With the wind in her wool, the sheep felt light and breezy. Ok, a stretch, but I just got back from New Zealand and have sheep on my mind. Decided to play around with Painter today and sketched the sheep using a crow quill pen. Then using layers, I painted the background using sponges and the blender tool. Fun!
Yikes! I managed to sneak out of town without leaving a post that I would be gone for awhile. In case you've been wondering, I just got back from a three week trip to New Zealand. Wow! What an amazing trip. Toured mostly the south island this year with only a few days spent in Auckland. The south island is much more spectacular in beauty than the north...which is saying a lot, as the north island is incredibly beautiful! Millions of sheep everywhere. These lovely beauties live on the farm of my friend Kathryn Wills. Some of them are self-moulting sheep. Their wool just falls off, so they never have to be sheared. I had a blast wandering around the pasture taking their pictures. More pics tomorrow!
© Deborah Melmon
I started a new painting last week in my watercolor class with
Guy Magallanes. Usually I don't have much time during the week to paint on stuff that is not work related, but this weekend I was puppy sitting for my girlfriend and since I had to keep one eye on a very curious and energetic puppy, I decided to sit at my kitchen table and paint on Friday. Well, Friday turned into Saturday and then into Sunday. I couldn't stop myself and ended up almost finishing the piece over the weekend. I learned so much just experimenting with the color. I took the painting to class last night and after a few minor finishing touches, I'm done! Had a lot of fun with this one :o) Thanks Guy for being such an inspiring teacher!!
When I went to Surtex last May, I created these owls as part of a promotional button give-away that we had going on in our booth. They were a big hit as buttons and also attracted the art directors at Design Design. I've been dying to talk about it for six months now but had to wait until the product was released. And so starting this spring, they are now licensed as gift wrap, gift tags, tissue paper and greeting cards!
Happy New Year everyone! Glad to be back on my blog again. It's been a busy couple of weeks and I've got lots to share. But for today, I'm posting a painting that I finished last night in my watercolor class with Guy Magallanes. A simple rose, but I worked on Arches 300 lb. paper which made such a difference for me...and I worked larger which also helped. Am starting to feel less afraid to just let the washes do their thing. I really like how this piece turned out and can't thank my teacher enough for guiding me in the right direction.
If you want to see some fabulous watercolors, you must visit Guy's
blog to see what he has been working on for the last three weeks. A truly amazing piece called "Trevi Angels" from a photograph he took in Italy over the summer. He shows the progression of this very large painting and just posted the finished painting today. I'm in such awe of his watercolor skills. Hope some of it rubs off on me!!!
© Deborah Melmon
In my world, nothing could be sweeter than the angelic voices of a reindeer choir singing Christmas carols. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
Thank you lil Kim for passing on some wonderful awards my way! Such a nice gift as we wind down for the year. You'll have to visit Kim's blog...she is a children's book illustrator with an adorable style. And her blog shows a lot of her process when working which I always find so interesting.
And since awards should not sit on a shelf and gather dust, I pass them on to two fabulous artists who I'm sure have plenty of awards already....but I just love their blogs and want you to love them too!
©Deborah Melmon
I created the ice-skating kitty a couple of weeks ago as a similar piece of art to go with the ice-skating dog for a potential client. Both animals were painted in watercolor. Backgrounds are digital. It was a good thing I did the art separately as I had to play around with the composition several times, enlarging the animals and creating a series of borders to go with both pieces.
These pieces definately put me in a holiday mood. Christmas is right around the corner, right?
©2008 Deborah Melmon
Just want to thank
Alicia Padron and the
Picture Book Junkies for the Marie Antoinette blog award!! I'm honored to be noticed by such wonderful artists. You must visit Alicia's blog as she is an incredibly talented children's book illustrator. I so admire her artwork and her dedication to her craft. And the PBJ's blog is one of my favorites to visit. Fantastic artists and a creative site...they're always doing fun stuff over there! You guys so inspire me!!!
©2008 Deborah Melmon
As promised, here is the colored version of the line drawing from yesterday. I had inked yesterday's sketch on watercolor paper and then painted the squirrels and tree with watercolor.
After scanning in the squirrels, I tweaked them in photoshop and added the background. With everything in layers, it gives me the flexibility to use the image in more than one way.
Happy Thankgiving everyone!
©2008Deborah Melmon
Wow, it's been over a week since I posted. Lots of deadlines right now. Funny how that happens around the holidays.....Thought I'd post this drawing, which is the line work for the painted piece which I will post tomorrow.
Wow! I've been tagged by one of my favorite bloggers
Alicia Padron. She is a fabulously talented children's book illustrator who I know works very hard at her craft. It certainly shows, if you've seen her work lately. She is a true inspiration for me and I love watching her progress!
I've been blogging for less than a year, and I've never been tagged, so you'd think I would have lots of interesting facts to reveal about myself....but when it comes right down to it, I consider my life pretty darn ho hum. But the rules are to share 7 things about myself. So here goes:
1) I love to do things that require physical labor, like work in the yard, paint my house or wash my car.
2) I am tall (5'10") which was always so uncomfortable for me when I was young, because I was ALWAYS the tallest girl in the room. Now it seems women are just getting taller and I know lots of young women who are much taller than I am.
3) I hate to shop. Period. For anything....except children's books and art supplies :o)
4) I used to rehabilitate injured and orphaned animals and have raised baby hummingbirds, robins, mockingbirds, ducks and squirrels to name just a few.
5) My favorite food is chocolate...in any form. Okay, that sounds boring because lots of people like chocolate, but I put chocolate chips in my cereal for breakfast.....
6) I ran the Silicon Valley Marathon 8 years ago and finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes. (I am especially proud of this achievement!)
7) And, finally, I love to watch trash tv on the BRAVO channel....Project Runway, the Housewives of Orange County, etc.....pure indulgence, but so fun!
OK, so now I get to tag more people to share some interesting tidbits about their lives:
©2008 Deborah Melmon
Back from a wonderful trip to Maui and home to the cool weather of Northern California. A lazy morning to catch up on the mail, news and my favorite blogs!
©Deborah Melmon
Here's a board book I did for Innovative Kids that is finally out. I started this book in October of 2007 and final artwork was submitted to the publisher in January of 2008 which was too late for Easter last year. So finally it is out! A cute concept.....a bag with the board book attached and dye-cut Easter eggs on the inside for kids to hide and collect. This spread is my favorite with the chick getting creative in his little farmhouse "art studio." 
With the wind in her wool, the sheep felt light and breezy. Ok, a stretch, but I just got back from New Zealand and have sheep on my mind. Decided to play around with Painter today and sketched the sheep using a crow quill pen. Then using layers, I painted the background using sponges and the blender tool. Fun!
Yikes! I managed to sneak out of town without leaving a post that I would be gone for awhile. In case you've been wondering, I just got back from a three week trip to New Zealand. Wow! What an amazing trip. Toured mostly the south island this year with only a few days spent in Auckland. The south island is much more spectacular in beauty than the north...which is saying a lot, as the north island is incredibly beautiful! Millions of sheep everywhere. These lovely beauties live on the farm of my friend Kathryn Wills. Some of them are self-moulting sheep. Their wool just falls off, so they never have to be sheared. I had a blast wandering around the pasture taking their pictures. More pics tomorrow!
© Deborah Melmon
When I went to Surtex last May, I created these owls as part of a promotional button give-away that we had going on in our booth. They were a big hit as buttons and also attracted the art directors at Design Design. I've been dying to talk about it for six months now but had to wait until the product was released. And so starting this spring, they are now licensed as gift wrap, gift tags, tissue paper and greeting cards! 
Happy New Year everyone! Glad to be back on my blog again. It's been a busy couple of weeks and I've got lots to share. But for today, I'm posting a painting that I finished last night in my watercolor class with Guy Magallanes. A simple rose, but I worked on Arches 300 lb. paper which made such a difference for me...and I worked larger which also helped. Am starting to feel less afraid to just let the washes do their thing. I really like how this piece turned out and can't thank my teacher enough for guiding me in the right direction. 
© Deborah Melmon
Thank you lil Kim for passing on some wonderful awards my way! Such a nice gift as we wind down for the year. You'll have to visit Kim's blog...she is a children's book illustrator with an adorable style. And her blog shows a lot of her process when working which I always find so interesting. 
©Deborah Melmon
©2008 Deborah Melmon
©2008 Deborah Melmon
©2008Deborah Melmon
©2008 Deborah Melmon
