What’s New This Week…

I completed work on a new blog header for a friend of mine. I went for whimsy and fun, with emphasis on the color green.

If you get the chance, check it out at Mountain Mama. She has some fabulous hand knit apparel, as well as a new give away this week. Be sure to check out her handmade wedding dress write-up HERE.

Are you a twitter…

Well, I am now. Though I have no idea who would want to listen to my ramblings, I have become a twitterati at the bequest of one of my clients. If you're interested you can follow me as KRIllustration.

Selected Sketches from Charlie the Choo Choo: A Day Away…

This is the second in a series of books by author Cyle Young, the first being Charlie the Choo Choo: A Day At Work. Such a fun story to illustrate!

Though I've been using Adobe Illustrator for over a decade, this is the first time I've done such a large project using only vector art. I traditionally use PhotoShop for a more textural and loose feel, but I wanted these images to be bright, cheerful and clean. I think Charlie would animate rather well.

I utilize a lot of clipping masks when I work in Illustrator and create my own blends rather than relying on Illustrator gradients. You get much more control and color brightness this way. I'll be posting some Adobe Illustrator tutorials shortly. Stay tuned!

Monday Artday…

This week's word choice is Yecchh! I combined an illustration that I did a few months ago that never went anywhere with some new background elements. Originally, it was just the box and hand without the eyeballs and beakers.

Monday Artday…

This weeks theme is bunny. Happy Easter everybody.

22nd Worldwide SketchCrawl Results…

Rain, wind and animals—a perfect day for a Southern Arizona SketchCrawl. Unfortunately only one other artist made it out this morning—too bad too—because it really was a beautiful day to draw. The location chosen was the Reid Park Zoo near downtown Tucson. I focused on sketching the big cats as they are my favorite animals to look at and for some reason I have a tremendously difficult time drawing cats well.

I spent a good deal of time trying to capture the essence of the black Jaguars. They are adorable and make me want to hug them—they’re just big kitties right? OK, no they’re not.



I also got a rare treat of being able to see the tiger up close—only the glass keeping the tiger from reaching me. At one point, the Zoo Caretaker put a large piece of meat in a barrel for the cat effectively hiding it from view. While the tiger was searching for the meat he was pacing a bit as wall as flehming. While standing there trying to draw the tiger, he raised up on his hind legs putting his feet on the glass. He was easily 2 feet taller than me and I’m not a very small person. What a cool day at the zoo it was today.



I also spent some time working on drawing the giraffes and their habitat surrounding.


All images done with sharpie and derwent graphitint pencils.

Five artists I’d like to meet in my lifetime…

I am constantly amazed at the amount of great illustration, design and artwork out in the world. At times it is overwhelming—I feel like, does the world need one more illustrator? At other times (luckily most times) it is very inspirational. Here are five artists I'd like to meet in my lifetime, some living, some not. Hope it gives a little insight into what I love in the world.

1. Wassily Kandinsky: While I studied fine art at Colorado State University, I was opened up to the world of abstract art. I never liked it before as most of the art I had seen was ridiculous, cheap, an attempt at being unique with nothing to say. Then a slide of Kandinsky's popped up on screen and I was immediatly smitten. Mr. Kandinsky was not always an abstract artist and painted quite attractive landscapes, but it was his use of music as inspiration that caused him to paint some of his most famous and in my opinion greatest works. This period of art speaks to me like no other artwork has.
2. Frank Cho: A master of the human form and a great cartoonist too.
3. Disney’s Nine Old Men: Considered the forefathers of modern animation these guys did it all in the Disney studio. I can only imagine what could be learned by these animated greats.
4. Nick Park: The creator of Wallace and Gromit. Can’t say much more than I would love to work with such a talented artist—even painting teeny tiny backgrounds would be a dream.
5. Troy Bayliss: OK, maybe not an artist in the way most people think, but to me, he’s one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever seen. While finely skilled as a motorcyclist, it’s the omni-present smile and good will that is visible on this man in every photo I've ever seen of the guy that immediately caught my attention.
   

22nd World Wide Sketchcrawl…

What is it? Similar to a bar crawl—but without the alcohol—the SketchCrawl is the coming together of artists all around the world to take a day out and sketch whatever they find interesting. Then, everyone posts their sketches on the SketchCrawl website. I find it so interesting to see people from all over the world sharing their artwork. It makes me forget that there are borders in this world and reinforces that every culture is made up of people, not ideals.

If you are interested in going, check out this link: SketchCrawl.

Handmade Scrapbook Cards…

A reader of mine suggested that I add a section to my website to sell hand-made scrapbook cards. Here are a few samples of cards that I have made in the past. I would sell them as an 8-pack for $25 +S & H. I have also put a permanent link in the right hand corner to my scrapbook card slide show.