Guaca Mole
Project 41 of 365
I'm behind in my 365 projects, but it's for a good cause! I'm in my writing groove. I finished writing 12 chapters for my children's book and am nearly done with revisions. I've started on the second chapter book, mulling over an outline right now, and hopefully within the next two weeks, I'll be mailing out my first chapter of the first book to publishers with fingers crossed!
This illustration was done for my children. I told them about a stuffed animal I had when I was a kid, called Guaca Mole. They wanted to know more about him, so I felt inspired to put the memory to paper.
Just a Bunny
I played around with just painting it digitally but, ultimately, I couldn't get away from adding texture. So it changed from solid digital color to added collage elements. It's a process.
Neigh
Project 13 of 365
Buzz
Project 14 of 365
Caw
Project 15 of 365
I love making these minis. They are small and quick...and most important, not precious! This kind of freedom lets me play and explore without the stress of being a perfectionist. I see the mistakes and chalk them up to lessons learned. I see what's working and now have a reminder for the future.
Horse
Shadowed with black and white
Horse Sketches
The top picture is shadowed with black and white, while Horse, Project 11 of 365, is shadowed with green and yellow (with minimal use of black and white). Nice to see the comparison. Project 11 is definitely warmer, but, IMHO, not necessarily better. Just different.
I worked on some more horse sketches today. I'd like to get a feel for facial expressions and anatomy so I can create a unique character. Not feeling it yet...
Horse
Tonight, I decided to dabble in digital collage. I experimented with using contrasting colors for my shadows and highlights...in this case green for the shadows and yellow for the highlights. I couldn't get away from my usual black and white entirely and used these colors sparingly to punch up certain areas.
Tomorrow, I will go back and add my usual black shadows and white highlights so I can see the difference more clearly.
Woof
I made it to double digits! Yippee!
Tweet
Another quick collage on recycled cardboard. It's small, simple and fun!
Recycled elements: cardboard and scrap paper
A Room of My Own
It's late so I chose art prompt number 5*, "Allow yourself to sit at your worktable for five minutes. Sometimes just getting to the table is the challenge, the rest is easy."
I combined this with a project from Melissa Sweet's Drawing Book for Kids. The book was a freebie from the SCBWI conference and has been sitting on my desk. I flipped through it and chose a project of creating quick sketches of objects in my room. Easy enough.
Bye Breezy
Bye Breezy - detail
LETTER
Great. It’s about time. It’s weird how over the past
two weeks life’s gotten much more exciting. I’m
still trying to figure out why John was kissing
my hand. Anyway it’s been raining here and I’m
getting mad because I want to sun bleach
my hair. After all, I am a Californian. So when are
you coming back? To California of course. Well
I gotta run. Since it’s been so long you’ll have
to fill me in on your adventures. It’s been live.
Bye, Breezy
Today, I used Project 6: Just Relaxing as my inspiration; the second part of Cloth Paper Scissors' (Jan/Feb 2012, page 80) art prompt number 23. "Create a doodle on a piece of paper and then use it to create a piece of art."
After reading about Breezy's adventures with hand kissing and hair coloring, her thoughts
faded into the night.
Just Resting
Just a quick sketch and some brainstorming while I watched a movie tonight. To get inspired, I reviewed the art prompts mentioned in the
Cloth Paper Scissors magazine (Jan/Feb 2012, page 80). I was inspired by number 23,
"Create a doodle on a piece of paper and then use it to create a piece of art."
Happy Hour!
Doing an illustration a day is hard (insert whine)! Today, I ran around doing chores and running errands so I could get ready for ladies night. I knew I wouldn't be up for creating art when I returned from happy hour at the Parlor...so, after enjoying my Huckleberry Press cocktail, I doodled on my bar napkin. That's gotta count for something, right?
MeowI wanted a quick collage for project 4 since I didn't meander down to my studio until 10:00 tonight. I had already created four other animals
(bear, duck, pig, and owl) on recycled cardboard dividers from a case of beer.
I need a better schedule if I'm going to keep this up for another 361 days! Oy!
Recycled elements: cardboard, scrap paper, ribbon remnant
Birdhouse Sketches
I jumped right into collage mode, and spent some time creating a birdhouse face. I was trying to be quick and didn't wait long enough for my crackle paint layer to fully dry. My haste really showed...no matter how hard I tried to turn it into an interesting texture, it just looked bad.
So, I went back to the drawing board and put pencil to paper. Good thing I did because I still don't know where I want to go with this image. I've had this idea for awhile...a birdhouse luring a bird into it's mouth. I want it to appear innocent and charming...oh look! What a cute birdhouse. But the hole into the birdhouse is a mouth. Hmm. Is the bird going to make a home or is the bird going to be breakfast?
A question, and illo, for another day.
Baby is Back.
Baby is Back. - Detail
GUEST CHECK
I love you so much baby
Even know you can be a bitch
I still love you
Cause I know who you really are
So please bring her back baby
We can have a great life together
But it's up to you
I love you baby
Have a merry x-mas
Love Austin
I found this note in the ditch by my mailbox a couple years ago and have been inspired by it since. I am intrigued by the use of "baby" and the multitude of emotions layered in this short note...pleading, love, insults, ambivalence...all written on a restaurant guest check. What a story! Who is baby? Did she get this note and toss it in the ditch? Or was Austin too proud or embarrassed to give it to her?
Recycled elements: guest check "love" note, ticket stub, magazine paper, stationary, parking stubs and other memorabilia.
Hey this fellow is so cute and so full of character. I think your work is getting better and better. Congrats about the book, it's a great feeling to take something through to completion. I am looking forward to seeing it on the stands :) !