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My agent, Nicole of Tugeau2 requested all her artists to submit a new piece for a character mosaic promo she is sending out to contacts. I didn't quite know what I wanted to do for it but I sat down with my sketch book and a Cinderella-esque figure began to emerge. So I took the sketch into Photoshop and started painting.

Here is the final piece and a bit about the process I've been using to create my work lately. It involves sketch > to black and white painting, color conversion > to evolution to the final full color. Working in black and white first is helping me to focus on form, composition and lighting without muddying around with the color. My recent work has been improving with this process (I'd show you but I can't since they are freelance projects--I'll have to wait!).

Summer, as always, was too short…or too long…but full of adventures of all sorts.  My wonderful Ohio son Jeremy (and CAT artist!) and his wife Nicole (T2 agency) and my three grandkids from that Clan were here over Labor Day…a busy and noisy and so appreciated visit! Good to have them play with the 3 boys from my Wmsbrg son Morgan’s family crew of three boys and wife Stef.  So that was the “period” on the summer.  Now they all, and WE are ‘back to school’ and thinking Fall, Holidays, and Winter.  wow….

So the CAT artists wanted to share with you four BACK TO SCHOOL visuals to get you in the mood….and we’ll be sharing lots more in the months to come…. HERE on” THE WAY “, and in the mail, and in person perhaps!  So check us out over and over for the new and different… www.catugeau.com as well as here on our blog.  Change is in the air….lets hope it’s all good!  now open your new ‘box of Crayolas’ and create fun for Fall!

Just a little something I created for my agent's upcoming promo look book. She and I discussed possibly creating some kind of mother & child vignette, and this is what it became.

Tugeau 2 is sending out a promo email this week on the theme "original characters" so we were encouraged to participate and come up with some new work just for this. I've been talking with my agent about experimenting with style variants that will allow me to work simpler and faster--two words that are the bane of my artistic existence. Try as I might, I can't seem to NOT over complicate illustrations.

So my goal for this promo was to work looser and faster. While I did succeed in trying something new, I failed miserably at working quickly. This thing STILL took me all day long. Oh well. Maybe someday I'll be able to get on paper what is in my head in under 8 hours!


Here's "That's What Friends are For."

I am so super-exhausted. I cannot even adequately describe. It's been a really busy couple of weeks. I've been working on something really exciting (really, really REALLY exciting, ok?) but I'm not spilling the beans yet. Anyway, at the moment, it is in the bag as much as it possibly can be at this juncture -- SO, that's GOOD. I have a real sense of accomplishment and I have very high hopes. Please please please send lots of happy vibes!!

I'm also working on a pet portrait -- SO cute -- a St. Bernard (my first)!! Also will be doing an upcoming cover for the Graphic Artists Guild national newsletter. I'm trying to brainstorm something really good, but also really "me" for the supplied subject matter, and let me tell ya, it's a teeny bit of a challenge so far, but I think I can do it. ;)

Also, more kid art for some promos coming up real soon. One of thise pieces is going to be for Picture Book 2009. I'm so excited that I'll have a presence in PB 2009 under the Tugeau 2 umbrella. Yippee!! Pretty awesome.

Another promo I'll be doing is for something different. For that one, I will likely tackle the window-shopper girl and do a final piece of it (finally, you say? ;) ) I'm thinking that might be nice in pen and ink (traditional). I may do some revisiting of long-past-used mediums soon (namely, liquid ink). Not sure about that, though -- we'll see. More on that later.

Lastly, my agency started a BLOG!! It's a great thing and I'm glad. I plan to contribute regularly, not sure of the exact schedule, but regularly. For starters to get the blog rolling, I'll let you know when I post and maybe you will check it out. It's bound to be a great outlet -- LOTS of really talented, really great artists. (Lucky me to be in such stellar company!)

In personal news (and just for kicks, I'll share), I attended my 20th high school reunion this past weekend. What a trip that was. It was really great to see old faces and catch up a bit. With some, I felt like there was so much to say and not even time to scratch the surface. You're at a loss for words in those situations, what can you say. (Half the time, I'm like, what just flew out of my mouth?) Anyway, it would be really nice to see some of them again sometime soon in the not-too-distant future (um, definitely BEFORE the next reunion. ).

Okay... that's all for now... over and out. More later!!

Kathy

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