Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

And a

Happy New Year

"Sleigh Ride from Hell" SCBWI Draw This!

 

 "Sleigh Ride from Hell"

SCBWI Draw This!

 

Nothing worse than being stuck in a sleigh with them two 



3-Week Illustration Workshop with Giuseppe Castellano

original artwork

G: "Do you always use reference?"

 Me: Yes

G: How about the penguins?

 

Me: Think think... Penguins...  

 

This was one of the questions I was asked during my first one hour live chat

with Giuseppe Castellano Senior Art Director during our 3-Week Illustration Workshop. 

 

Giuseppe was critiquing my portfolio

 

 I forgot about the penguins so the answer would be no unless you count seeing movie posters for Madagascar on the subway.

 

G: I would like to see you rework them but use reference. 

Me: okay

 

 As I answered a question or gave more detail on a illustration Giuseppe seemed to have already moved on and was looking at a different image. It made it a little confusing and yet entertaining to see how his thought  processed worked.

 

G: Have you ever used ink quills?

Me: Not since college I don't remember being good at it.

 

G: Maybe you should try again.

Me: okay

 

Giuseppe has a true passion for art. I could seen it as he critique my portfolio.

It was easy to get swept up in his enthusiasm I hardly slept that night after our first chat. 



 

I was so inspired I did the above image in one sitting the very next morning.

  

2nd week my first attempt using ink quills, reference and figuring out color





Second week G's email response to my email to him with the above image.
 "Vary the line by using different nips" (well something like that)
 

3rd week final artwork  

 It was not easy for me to let go of the original characters.

 But Giuseppe is inspiring; in the back of my head I kept hearing a voice say

 "Trust your art director" and I had to just let go and trust.   

 

Once I let go and found the first penguin reference everything else just fell into place.

 Thank You
Giuseppe

  

New tools

 

"Reflection" SCBWI Word Challenge

 

SCBWI "Draw This!"

monthly word challenge

"Reflection"

 

 

washes of India ink and watercolor

"Mirror mirror..." 

SCBWI Draw This "Enchanted"

 

SCBWI Draw This!

prompt:

 

"Enchanted"

 

India ink washes and watercolor



Toot Toot for Panda

"Toot~ Toot for Panda"

 

washes of India ink and watercolor, color pencil   

SCBWI Draw This! "Muse"

SCBWI Draw This!

"MUSE" 

anyone seeing a pattern?


 View all my submissions to SCBWI Draw This! 
on Pinterest


Ten Days without Internet

What do you do when your internet has been shutdown for over ten day?

After the long long long... time talking to support .

 

You start doing other projects like,

put your picture book dummy together and mail it out to possible publishers.

 

 Second you clean out of your computer of all the double or triple images of yourself you have saved.

 

Thirdly you pull out your sketch book and randomly select sketches and create art. 

  

 

SCBWI Draw This! "DIVERSE"

SCBWI Draw This!

"DIVERSE"

"Adventure" SCBWI Draw This!

 

"Adventure"

SCBWI Draw This!

8.5 x 11

watercolor, brush and India ink, color pencil, Photoshop

 

  

Never More

 

Saying goodbye to one of your companions is never easy to do.

Even when you know that time with them is short and all your efforts to keep them healthy just a little longer just don't work out.   

 

 She will be missed  

XOXOXO

 



Draw This! BOUNCE

BOUNCE

DRAW THIS!

Something new from
 SCBWI

 "Calling All Illustrators!

We are excited to announce a great new feature for our illustrator members,

 Draw This!: a monthly art prompt that will be part of the new SCBWI Insider.

 Members will have the opportunity each month to show their artwork in the online gallery and two pieces will be featured in the email itself.

The online gallery will be open to public viewing, so agents, art directors and editors have yet another way of finding our illustrators.

  The June 2015 Draw This! prompt word is: Bounce Deadline for the June Draw This! is May 25 Tweet, Facebook and Instagram your submissions! Tag your art #scbwidrawthis"

 

Well of course I did it, I kept it simple and focused on the word.

watercolor,  India ink 

Hamlet

 

 

 May 14 2011 I had to put down my best friend.

I think of him often.

  I miss you Hamlet keep giving the Universe Hell! 

Postcards work!

Postcards work!

 I woke up on Sunday morning to an email from one of the publishers

I am interested in working with.

 

"I will keep you in mind for future projects that may suit your style. Until then, I wish you continued success.
We are going paperless, so help us save trees by NOT adding me to your snail mail list. Snail mail art samples will be discarded.
Instead, please send me an occasional email to
editor(at)Blank Publisher(dot)com when you update your website, or email me a lo-res jpg every few months."

  

 I know this does not mean I am going to get "the call" today or even this month/year.

But it does say stay in touch.

 

 

All because of a postcard, so pick a postcard any postcard.  

Happy Mothers Day

 

Wishing You all a

Happy Mothers Day

 

recreating Peter Rabbit so can improve on my own artwork  

It does not always workout the way you thought it should

It does not always workout the way you thought it should.

And that's okay, without the little setbacks how would we learn and grow?    

 

 "Wolf in sheep's clothing"

 is going to be part of my postcard series.

 (LINK to past Post) 

even though I like the idea I don't think its clear what is happening and it needs to be reworked. 

  

The above was something I did for a friend/fellow artist who likes to be scared,

I love to come up with images for her it pushes me out of my safety zone.

But its just not working, I will revisit this one in the near future.      

 

 

 

      

Post card mailers

 

My newest postcard

My goal this year is to have three to four postcards sent to potential new clients

i.e. Publishing Houses/ Agents  

I have already sent out my leftovers from the 2015 SCBWI Winter Conference.

 

 

I am gradually getting them all out, it takes time to write addresses and names.

 Not my favorite part of the process.

 But if I want my voice to be seen by Art Directors and Editors as well as Agents  

you have to lick a lot of stamps

 (even though they are self adhesive now)

 

OWL in Space

 

It started off with a little sketch I did at work.

My Idea for "Little Red Riding hood" was not working out  

So I started to play with this sketch

 

 

That became this wash of watercolor

That became

 

 

 That became

 

 

And finally this little gem

 

Watercolor, India ink, color pencil and acrylic white

 



St. Tomie dePaola

I had a little fun with an artist I admire

 and I was reworded with an email from his assistant saying he loved it and wanted to put on his blog.

 

   Tomie dePaola's blog

 

It doesn't get any better!!

Happy Easter

Snow?

 

Happy Easter

Little Red and the Wolf

 

"Little Red and the Wolf"

I feel like I am coming awake after a long sleep,

and my imagination is firing off fun ideas.

 

 

9x12

India ink, watercolor, color pencil and Photoshop

 

 

  

"Just a quick sketch "

 

"Just a quick sketch, doodle or warm up before I start my day"

 

 I see this statement often on twitter

and it make me wonder how can that be a quick sketch?

A well rendered colored piece of artwork

a quick sketch for me is a bunch of lines usually done with a ballpoint pen and it takes me all of few seconds to finish it.

Most of the time I am the only one who would understand it.

Not what looks like finished artwork

The Pomeranian above started as a "quick sketch" that led to a

 

unsuccessful first attempt and a second much happier attempt that I posted on twitter

 and an Art Director loved it, so I mailed her the original a couple days ago as a gift

hope it show up today.

 

 

So this is my morning quick sketch 

Michael Sporn was one of the giants of the New York animation community

 

I have dusted off the DVD's and sat back to watch films I worked on some twenty years ago

On Monday March 2nd I will be part of a panel decision  



 Michael Sporn was one of the giants of the New York animation community. From 1980 until his untimely death last year, Michael Sporn’s studio produced many acclaimed television specials, most of them animated entirely here in New York.

 

To commemorate the first anniversary of his passing, ASIFA-EAST is hosting an evening of Tribute to Michael Sporn–and we’re encouraging members of the animation community to contribute to a tribute reel to be presented at the event and preserved online.

 

ASIFA-East Tribute to Michael Sporn Monday, March 2, 2015 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm (doors open at 6:00 pm) SVA Theatre [Beatrice] 333 West 23rd Street (between 8th & 9th Ave.) New York, NY (no RSVP required).

 

Please join the others who knew him, worked with him, and read “Splog”–his celebrated blog to look back at his foot prints and keep his legacy alive for the future.