From my sketchbook

Making progress... sloooowwwlyyy

As the deadline for the Don Freeman grant approaches, I can say with certainty that I am making progress, though not near as fast as I would like. I will say, however, whether I make that deadline or not, it has forced me to really buckle down, and I see so much improvement over these last couple of months. And making the goal of the grant deadline will NOT be a deal breaker in my goal of getting a book contract by the end of this year. Lofty perhaps, but there it is.

As I have worked to get some finished illustrations, I continue to see areas for improvement, which in turn, puts me further behind. But, I do not want to risk turning in sub par work in what could be a stepping stone to my next goal (portfolio).

One thing I have been working toward is developing a character style that I like, and works with the way I already draw. The image below is an example of what I aspire to for all my characters. I like how both look, and the fact that I have found a way to create children of different ages. Still needs a bit of work, but I am so close, and I could not be happier with these drawings.

Another thing I have discovered about myself is that the faster I draw my characters, the better they turn out. What I mean is getting the whole shape of the character down quickly without too much thought on details, then going back and defining details. May be a no-brainer to some, but I am sure many of you can attest to times you got caught up in the details first.

Getting 10 finished illos by March 31 is getting tougher as the days go by, but I am confident that I will continue to work toward my ultimate goal of illustrating for children.

Thanks for looking!

Progress

Wanted to give an update as to my progress. While I do not yet have any completed illustrations, I have made some good progress on the sketches. Below are three sketches that are fairly complete and near what the final illustration will look like, thought the "Moses" one still needs a bit of work. I would have liked to have had more done by now, but life always manages to throw some curve balls. My goal is to have it all finished by mid-March so I have time to adjust anything before I send it off for the Don Freeman Grant.

As for my other goals I listed last post, you can see that the blog still looks the same and I have not drawn every day. Still working on the confidence, but it is getting better the more I work on my illustrations. One bad habit I have is I am easily distracted, especially when it comes time to work on my illustrations. I tend to do more research than necessary, or look at others' studio spaces, or desks I would like to have (my current space does not make for the best drawing environment), etc, etc. I need a little elf next to me that throws a pencil at me when I have been online a bit too long! Anyway, I digress...

Keep checking back in the coming weeks for my next progress update.

Boy pulling Christmas tree - Final

After looking at this, I was not digging the outline, and was ready to give up on doing it digitally. However, something inside me said to give it one more go, and below is the final result, which I am extremely happy with. Went sans outline, using shading to give it dimension, which I like a lot better. I also decided to turn his frown upside down. That came from a story idea, but as a stand alone illustration, it is not obvious why he is sad while pulling a Christmas tree.

Anyway, if you are in the area, leave me a note and let me know what you think!

Little girl

Here is an attempt to get consistency in a character. I think I did pretty good. Still need to work on hands, hair, and feet, though.

I wonder, too, if I get too caught up in proper anatomy. I see these same characteristics in others illustrations (no neck, "rubber" arms, and odd joints in the legs/hips), but am I doing them in a way that still looks OK. Or am I being too critical/picky?

Sketches, PiBoIdMo final

Well, it is official. I made it thru PiBoIdMo with 30 ideas! It was a lot of fun and it kept me focused not only on written ideas, but gave me another reason to stick with practicing my illustration skills. If you are an illustrator, I encourage you to participate next year, even if you never intend to write. Many of the posts offer insight that could easily apply to illustration.

Below are some of my recent sketches. I think I mentioned this before, but I have found that the less I focus on getting things perfect, the better my drawings turn out. I also found a really good video tutorial on drawing children at this link. Was a big help! You can see how I used some of his methods in the sketches in the first image.