Kerrie Robertson Illustration

2010-03-06T16:55:00.001-07:00

— Day 3 —

I know I said I was going to focus on animals, but this lady was too fun to sketch while I was in a meeting.

2010-03-06T16:28:00.003-07:00

— DAY 2 —

March Madness…

2010-03-02T16:30:00.004-07:00

To help spark my creativity, I've set a goal to do a new illustration a day, each in a different style, for the entire month of March. Because I like them, I'm going to focus on animals. Here's day 1:

— DAY 1 —

Were-Rabbit® Buns…

2010-01-13T14:09:00.004-07:00

I just made these for fun. They are modeled after the bunnies from Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. They are by no means identical, nor did I design them in any way. I just think they're really cute and gave me some good practice with the sculpey clay.

On that note, I'm finding the sculpey to be a bit difficult to work with, mostly because it is so soft, it wants to collapse. I had great difficulty with the mouth area and had to modify it to be a simple opening with teeth. I also ended up breaking one of the ears off of the gray bunny and had to Frankenstein it back together.

Ahhh! Big kitties!

Polar Bears…

2010-01-06T06:00:00.005-07:00

I've been playing around with some other illustration techniques—mainly creating 3D sculptures and photographing them. This is my first attempt and was supposed to be this year's Christmas Card. *cough* They didn't quite get done. I wasn't happy with any of the photographs and need to make myself a portable photographers studio to get the lighting to come out better.

I made the bears out of sculpey clay then added eyes with a sharpie and nose and foot detail with powdered graphite. I then burnished that with a hog's hair bright to "set" the graphite. I tried photographing on a piece of glass over blue paper. I think I would have preferred to use the flaked snow in the background as opposed to the blanket of snow…

The lighting differences all have to do with the way I'm setting the white balance. I try a number of different settings and focus on different areas. Well, maybe this will be next year's Christmas card.

What’s New This Week…

2010-01-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Just finished up a book on undersea adventures for a local client. Here are some of the internal pages. The project was done in Adobe Illustrator and stared out with pencil sketches on copy paper.

New Year’s Goals…

2010-01-04T07:30:00.010-07:00

—1—

This year, my number one goal is to draw and paint more. You might say, “but you're an illustrator. You draw for a living. Why would you possibly need to draw more?” In some ways that is true, but I draw for my clients, my viewers and sometimes even my readers and not for myself. Drawing for myself will allow me to explore more media and challenge my abilities as an artist. My first step in drawing and painting more is to get my studio organized.

Why is organization important?
Being organized in the studio allows me to find all the papers, supplies and design tools needed to create whatever I feel like drawing at that moment. Nothing is worse than trying to create something that has popped into your mind, when you have to find all your supplies. The creative spark often times simply disappears, or you get discouraged and stop the process altogether. I have found this to be true when simply doodling or even when working on the computer.

How can I create organized chaos?
I don't want to get lost in detail. I tend to be a quick artist and like to draw spontaneously. There are detail artists out there, and they are very good at what they do. I simply am not one. I tend to get bored with working on the same piece forever. This is of course different when I'm working on a client's piece—that I will work until it is perfect for both of us. But I don't want to get lost in noodling* a project.

For spontaneity, I make sure that I am up early in the morning—usually no later than 6 a.m. This time allows me for all the chores I have to complete, finish up any pressing work and e-mails that pop up and I can clear my day for drawing. I also thrive on coffee and tea. Though I drink decaf, it is a ritualistic thing I do that starts my day—find something that you enjoy that is both relaxing and invigorating. I know that's kind of a contradiction, but for me coffee both relaxes me, yet wakes me up.

Secondly, when I illustrate, I try not to look at anything for reference. I think you get a much more pure piece of artwork. Rather than trying to copy something, whether it be a photograph, object or another artists style, just put pencil to paper and draw from your mind. When I want to draw a still life, I like to draw whatever I see that is interesting. I may move objects around a little bit, but I try not to spend more than about 5-10 minutes setting up a still life. Otherwise, I'm just noodling again.

Thirdly, and for me one of the most important, is music. I listen to a wide variety of music and each musician means something different for me. You however might like silence. Shut off your cell phone, turn off your e-mail, turn off your phone ringer. Shut the door and just create.

*noodling: working on a project forever making tiny changes until you destroy the original intent.

Pay it Forward…

2009-10-22T15:14:00.004-07:00

I signed up for “Pay it Forward” over on Tinkerfrog's blog yesterday—and I'm excited to see what she comes up with, being such a wonderful quilter. What is “Pay it Forward,” you ask? The first three people to leave me a comment will receive from me a handmade item that I will create. In my instance it will be an illustration or scrapbooked thank you cards. You in turn, post the “Pay it Forward” post on your own blog and create three things for your first three posters.

You have 365 days to create your item, but I'm sure it's a lot more fun if the projects get completed a lot sooner than that. I hope some people play and enjoy their new creations.

Create Your Own Avatar…

2009-10-21T14:24:00.006-07:00

Ever dreamed about being a kubric-styled lego character-type person? Of course you have—who hasn't? Well, now you can bring those dreams to reality with the BlackBerry avatar builder.

Here's me as a vampire and how I dressed getting a cup of java this morning.

coffee … gimme!

What’s New This Week…

2009-10-21T11:06:00.003-07:00

Check out Mountain Mama for some inspiration for wonderful knitting and baking projects.
Here are my favorite three on her site:

To me, knitting is like magic. From a single yarn something beautiful and essential is created. It takes the basic need of clothing and lofts it into an art form. Beautiful work Mountain Mama.

I wonder if she ever finished her beaded necktie from college?

Halloween Decor…

2009-10-07T14:56:00.004-07:00

While picking up a bunch of household goods last week at Target, I noticed these awesome paper silhouettes from the Martha Stewart line of craft products. Normally, I am not drawn to the Martha Stewart products. I know I should love it—it's very well designed and usually very good product—but there's something about the products I just can't get in to. I always look, but never buy. Not this time. These things—these funky, spooky shapes! These. Are. Excellent.

Each pack comes with about 12 silhouettes that are at least the size of your hand. In the case of the spiders you see, they also come with string to hang them, as well as little adhesive dots. While I was putting them around the house, I realized they are way too creepy as is. I was having tarantula flashbacks, so I picked up my silver marker and doodled on all of the spiders. They are still creepy! I also picked up a package of rats and mice that come with little mouse holes and tacked them around the house along my baseboards and sitting on top of my electric outlets. The only mods I made to those was to add red eyes. For about 9 bucks, I had an entire house of spookiness, and the paper is of such nice quality, stored flat I can see these lasting for a long time.

New Children’s Illustration…

2009-10-02T15:49:00.008-07:00

This is another project for the same product line. This piece is all about discovery in your back yard. Not my back yard though—mine's all gravel, what with living in the desert—but it's the backyard I remember from growing up in Colorado. This family lives in my favorite style of house—the Craftsman Bungalow.

I made a number of illustration style evolutions in this piece. Most notably, the texture to the trees. it's something I've wanted to implement for a while now, and this seemed the perfect place to do it. I'd started to put in texture like this working on the Charlie the Choo-Choo books. The leaf shapes were inspired by the sky designs as seen in Spongebob Sqaure Pants. Yes, I watch that show. I was a little worried about the overall crazy-business of the piece, but my client said "bright, bright, bright," and are even adding more color to their packaging. Whew! A bit of color overload, so I kept the palette tighter with a complimentary (red-green) color scheme. I also added some of my signature smoke, as found in the Charlie the Choo-Choo series of children's books.

Detail of the image.

New Children’s Illustration…

2009-10-02T15:35:00.006-07:00

An illustration for a local game company for one of their new projects. This piece was created in Adobe Illustrator. It focuses on small town environments and what you might see along an afternoon walk. Though honestly, I'd love to see the town that has buildings this fun.

Detail of the drawing. If you've ever had the opportunity
to feed a giraffe, you will recognize their long tongues.

Monday Artday…

2009-09-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

The current word for Monday Artday is Kawaii, or cute object. I was eating a hard boiled egg with lunch and noticed the shell on the cutting board. How embarrassed my little egg was without her clothing.

You Win Some, You Lose Some…

2009-08-03T19:20:00.005-07:00

A number of months ago I was asked to present some sketches and rough concepts for a children's book by an author in Yuma Arizona. Ultimately, they went with another illustrator, but I wanted to show my concepts for the artwork. I presented a number of different characters for the author to choose from and then worked up one in full-color. I went very Photoshopy, though I've moved away from that style in most of my work now. It's too fussy and very time intensive. I prefer the illustrator look to my newer art now.

When I first started out as an illustrator, I would get frustrated with myself for not getting the job. Did I not draw it right, was I not quick enough, was the color wrong? The only thing I can say, is this is how I draw and work and I'm constantly trying to hone my illustration skills so that you immediately know it's a Kerrie Robertson illustration. I am so very far from being there! So, these are the fireflys I presented.

After refining some of the characters I presented this turnaround to show how the firefly would look in different poses and angles.

I also worked up some page thumbnails to show how I would lay out the story.

Writing World

2009-07-31T14:28:00.006-07:00

Screen grab of the game in progress.

This is the second in a series of games done for Dreamco for the Tucson Public Library's summer reading program. The device is to capture the letters to complete a sentence sort of in a crossword puzzle style. We decided to keep the background very Tucson with the desert colors and landscape. I originally had a green grassland but Greg at Dreamco suggested the more desert brown and he's right—way more desert-y! I myself prefer sunsets and sunrises for background sky colors as I think that is the time the desert is most alive, so I created the background around that. Go test your skills hunting desert bugs here: Pima Public Library.

P.S. I almost always do my rough sketches in blue pencil. It helps me keep neat lines when I go over it in graphite and I can set my scanner to eliminate the blue. But I don't like those non-repro pencils—way too hard and you can't see what you're doing. Great for paste-up, not so good for sketching.

Background play space. You'll see saguaro, prickly pear,
mesquite, palo verde and a simple desert background.

Intro page ready for text.

Evolution of An Illustration

2009-07-28T17:11:00.009-07:00

A few months ago I had the pleasure of working on video game art for a local company. There are 6 games in total, and today I feature the work on Robot Rock! Starting with loose sketches I explored numerous shapes of robots, some inspired by everyday household objects.

Next, I worked up a background and drew up one of the robots to near completion to see how it would interact. I wanted a really dramatic background, but when in color, it would be quite minimal. Does that make sense?

The developer wanted kids to be able to choose a “girl” or a “boy” robot, so here they are:

And here's the final layout:

If you're interested in playing the games, check them out here: Pima Public Library.

Book Cover Illustration

2009-07-28T06:00:00.003-07:00

This particular illustration was based off of very specific requests from the author. I also supplied a design of my own that he ultimately chose—but the book's not out yet, so I won't post that one until it's available! One thing specifically requested was to see both the setting sun and the moon hanging low over the horizon. Because of the brightness of the sun and the relatively poor reflectivity of the moon, it is nearly impossible to see both at the same time, unless they are rather far apart in the sky. I justified this—in my own mind at least— by putting the sun as far to the right as possible and the moon as far left as possible as though the entire thing was shot through a fish-eye lens.

I illustrated the entire thing in PhotoShop and used a combination of transparent shapes and a photograph I had taken of an Arizona sunset. I wanted the colors muted because of the serious tone of the novel.

Book Cover Illustration

2009-07-27T12:05:00.005-07:00

This is an illustration I did for a recent book cover—though the author ultimately chose the photographic cover I designed. I was inspired by the old travel posters that were so prevalent during the 40s and 50s. One of the difficult things about working on book covers, is that I am only allotted 4-5 hours of design time for these book cover, including a second proof and interior layout, however I still want to present the best possible image choice.

Below are some samples for my inspiration. I love the designs of this era, from interiors to fashions—probably the best thing about living now is that I get to choose what I like from that time and ignore what I don't (war, disease, politics, etc.).

Orchesis Dance Company logo…

2009-07-25T15:19:00.003-07:00

— EVOLUTION OF A LOGO —

This is a logo design I worked up for a local youth dance company. I often times work logos up in sketches, then go immediately into Adobe Illustrator for refinement. I've found a lot of clients want to see a more finished version of their artwork to be able to visualize its end use. This particular logo started out with simple drawings of ballerinas and modern dancers, but the final was worked into an androgynous man/woman dancer without any emphasis on the dance style.

Spot Graphics…

2009-07-24T09:14:00.003-07:00

Spot illustrations depicting different personality types among trendy young women.

New Look…

2009-07-23T10:05:00.002-07:00

In anticipation of launching my new website, I've updated the blog to reflect the direction I'm going. I should have the new website up and running in about a week and will soon be re-directing all blog traffic there. In the meantime, take a look around and enjoy.

Time to post up…

2009-07-07T17:54:00.004-07:00

I admit—I haven't posted in a long time. I've been thankfully busy with working on projects and finishing up my new website. Eventually, that will take over this blog and all elements will be in one handy location.

What's going on? I'm working on about 12-15 book covers right now, trying to find a client of mine (Charlie the Choo-Choo—you out there?), trying to get my illustration mojo back, going back to school this fall for business and planning my 11 year anniversary.

Here's a drawing I did to honor the beginning of the Monsoons. I'm ready for them!

Life Drawing Mondays…

2009-05-11T15:51:00.004-07:00

10-minute pose (Sharpie Marker)

This week I got to draw an older gentleman, something I haven't done in nearly 10 years—draw a man that is. It seems like in all the figure drawing classes and sessions I have attended, women are models probably 90% of the time. At the beginning of the session, I really wasn't feeling it, drawing wise. I felt like my line work was stiff and overly bothered. I really think the only drawing I enjoyed out of the session was the pastel portrait. Oh well!

10-minute pose (Graphite)

10-minute pose (Graphite)

15-minute pose (Sharpie and Graphite Wash)

20-minute pose (Pastels)

1-minute pose (Graphite)

Happy Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-05T20:58:00.002-07:00

NOTE: This is a repeat post from my personal blog, but I believe cooking is a very creative endeavor and should be shared as much as possible.

To celebrate the day, I made a few of my families more favorite Mexican style dishes. Chile Verde, Nacho Dip and Key Lime Pie served with an icy cold Corona and lime.

Chile Verde (This is a variation of my chile verde, found HERE)

2 Lbs. pork rib meat
1 Lb. tomtatillos
2 jalapeños
3 green chile peppers
1 Small chopped onion
1/2 cup cilantro
pork rub or seasoning
2 garlic cloves
1 Bay Leaf
2 cans white beans
Cumin to taste (I use about 1/4 cup!)

Accomaniments:

Cubed jack cheese
White jasmine rice

Prep:

Roast chili peppers, jalapeños and tomatillos under broiler until skins turn brown and bubbly, then place peppers in covered container for approx. 10 minutes for skins to loosen.

While vegetables are broiling, place pork in crock pot and season with desired seasoning.

After removing skins, combine peppers, tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and onion in blender and blend until smooth. Poor mixture over pork and add in bay leaf; cook covered until pork is tender and can be pulled apart with a fork.

Finish:

After shredding pork, add in white beans and cumin and cook an additional hour.

Serve with cubed jack cheese and rice if desired.

Nacho Dip

1 can refried black beans
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 cup guacamole
1 cup light sour cream
1 small can chopped olives
1 small chopped onion
1 small can chopped jalapeños
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar/jack mix

Accomaniments:

Tortilla chips

Prep:
Mix refried beans with chili powder and spread in 9" casserole.
Layer remaining ingredients in order and top with shredded cheese.

Finish:

Serve with tortilla chips.

Key Lime Pie (as adapted from Gourmet, May 2003)
For crust

18 graham cracker squares; crumbed
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
20 Key Limes; juiced

For topping

3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Make crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate.

Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling and bake pie:
Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

What’s New This Week…

2009-05-05T20:43:00.002-07:00

What’s New This Week…

2009-04-28T08:50:00.002-07:00

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…

2009-04-22T21:58:00.003-07:00

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…

2009-04-16T09:57:00.005-07:00

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…

2009-04-15T11:29:00.001-07:00

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…

2009-04-11T22:47:00.002-07:00

This weeks theme is bunny. Happy Easter everybody.

22nd Worldwide SketchCrawl Results…

2009-04-11T22:20:00.005-07:00

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…

2009-04-11T21:34:00.003-07:00

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.

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.
Frank Cho: A master of the human form and a great cartoonist too.
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.
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.
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…

2009-04-07T11:06:00.007-07:00

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…

2009-04-07T07:26:00.009-07:00

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.

Tucson Festival of Books…

2009-03-17T15:30:00.004-07:00

This weekend our little town hosted the Tucson Festival of Books. I volunteered for duty on Saturday and helped direct traffic to different venues on the U of A campus. As a book illustrator I felt this was a great learning experience for me. There were a number of different book publishers booths available for questioning and of course I offered my business card.

Overall I'm glad that I was part of this great event. As a volunteer I heard nothing but positive reviews about the authors, the event itself and also the way it was coordinated.

Monday Artday…

2009-03-12T21:45:00.004-07:00

This week’s challenge is Mad Tea Party, otherwise known as the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. I decided to put a spin on this and do it as characters from The Wizard of Oz.

Charlie the Choo Choo: A Day At Work

2009-03-05T10:37:00.002-07:00

What’s New This Week…

2009-03-04T17:44:00.006-07:00

I’m almost finished with the illustrations for my most current children’s book.* I was pretty pleased with the way this page turned out and am especially fond of the filtered light in the shop. Hope you all like it!

*I should note, I’m illustrating the book but did not author it.

Original done in pencil on paper, scanned then drawn in Adobe Illustrator.

What’s New This Week…

2009-02-26T16:29:00.007-07:00

I’m working on a new children’s book—another one about trains. I can only show a little snippet of it so far. Here is the preliminary cover.

I’m using a much more simple illustration style—simple in that I am not using brush strokes or a painterly effect. It still takes me about 8-10 hours to draw and color each page. Plus I keep seeing things I want to change.

I also keep in mind that I don’t want any of my trains to ever look like Thomas or The Little Blue Engine. I also need to make my wheels appear to be moving faster … maybe a little blur is needed.

I won at Monday Artday!

2009-02-16T15:57:00.004-07:00

How surprised am I? That was my first ever post to Monday Artday and in my opinion one of the first drawings of a cat that I feel mildly successful at! It really is a great blog and inspiring to be challenged by a new theme every week.

Thanks!

Monday Artday…

2009-02-13T10:56:00.004-07:00

This is my contribution for “Cliff Hanger.”

Sketches and Doodles…

2009-02-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve been trying to work out some new characters of a cat and realized that I am terrible at drawing cats. So, I took some time today to work out these little guys.

Fun with PhotoShop…

2009-02-12T09:17:00.003-07:00

I ran across a video of tilt shift photography a few days ago and I am enamored with this look. So, I have tried replicating the look on a few of my photographs using this tutorial. «Fake model photography»

The photographs always remind me of train sets and Godzilla models. I don’t think the effect works as well on animals, but maybe it’s just the photos I’ve been playing with.

Life Drawing Mondays…

2009-02-09T13:23:00.005-07:00

There is one fail-safe technique to drawing that will always make your drawings better. Draw more. So, I will keep going to The Drawing Studio to do just that. The model for the morning had a very punk-rock look to her—she even had a slight Mohawk going on. I had a very off day today though—forgetting things, dropping my supplies, kicking my bag off my chair—I almost gave up for the morning. But I didn’t and here are my samples from this week.

One-minute gestures to loosen both the artists and the model up.

10-Minute pose

10-minute pose. I focused on portrait only with conté on sand paper.

20-minute pose. This is black conté on gray sandpaper.

20-minute pose. Used white conté on black paper. I don’t think I enjoy this technique—which probably means I should do it more in the future, because I’m not very good at it.

10-minute pose.

25-minute pose. Again, I focused on portrait only. This is the first time I’ve ever used pastels in a life drawing session. And, it’s probably only the 3rd or 4th time I’ve ever used pastels in my life. I liked them a lot, but now that I see this drawing out of the studio, I realize, she’s kind of lopsided.

Doodles and Sketches…

2009-02-06T17:14:00.003-07:00

I’ve been trying out a few new doodling techniques. One—you look only at your subject and never your paper—fun! Difficult too. The second, is watercolor. I know these are terrible, but I have determined that I would like to pursue watercolor as thoroughly as I have charcoal. The two ink doodles are of my cat Ashley.

Ashley looking to her right at a plant

Looking over Ashley’s shoulder

A trio of old scooters.

My first mistake with the watercolors were working on Bristol Board. It immediately bubbled. More experiments to follow…

Life Drawing Mondays…

2009-02-03T11:15:00.012-07:00

Monday morning I attended the Life Drawing session at The Drawing Studio in downtown Tucson. It's been a little over a year since I've been and they have a wonderful new facility. It's always inspiring being downtown especially during business hours. I will definitely make this a weekly event if I can find the time.

I tried a few different techniques this session, starting with quick 1 minute charcoal gestures. These are meant to loosen you up and to quickly get the idea of the image in a quick manner. I generally do as many as possible on one sheet and don't worry about the direction. This session, I tried to focus mostly on portraits and used charcoal, conté, water soluble graphite, ink pen (forcing myself to not be able to erase) and white charcoal on black paper.

In all my years drawing and even in college I have never tried drawing with white charcoal on dark paper. I had to force myself to think backwards and only paint highlights.

Some sketches from my sketchbook…

2009-01-20T10:51:00.003-07:00

I spent the day sketching at the Tucson Botanical Gardens last week and tried to play around with my watercolor crayons and some simple contour drawing. The fruits in color are from my sketchbook a number of months ago.

World Wide SketchCrawl turnout

2009-01-12T13:45:00.005-07:00

Saturday was the 21st SketchCrawl started in 2004. People from all over the world attend local gatherings to sketch and hang out, then post their sketches for the world to see on their website.

The Tucson division met downtown at Bruegger's Bagels and had a great demo/tutorial by local artist, Deanna Thibault. She taught us all her technique of doing contour drawing with a sharpie while looking at the object, but never looking at your paper. It produced a piece of lineart that you then color in with watercolor or whatever media you enjoy. Here is my attempt:

The rest of the afternoon, I spent sketching at the renovated El Presidio. They had a number of people dressed in period costumes from the 1800s. They also had traditional dishes being cooked and thankfully a warm fire going on a rather cool Tucson morning.

I finished off the day sketching downtown at Stone and 6th. I'd like to ultimately turn this one into a pastel painting, as all of the individual buildings have their own color and feel.

World Wide Sketch Crawl

2008-12-30T17:11:00.002-07:00

The 21st Sketch Crawl is coming up. I'm not sure where the Tucson people will be meeting, but hopefully I can meet up with a few people and post my images. If you haven't been to one, now's your chance. Either sketch on your own, or find a group in your area, then post on their forum.

Selected pages of my latest book…

2008-12-16T11:12:00.004-07:00

What’s New This Week…

2008-12-08T17:29:00.003-07:00

Here is the final version of an image created for MasterPieces Puzzle Co. This product should hit store shelves this spring. I just love the new look they are going with. Very fresh, clean and simple. Very not “mass-market.”

A few of the animals were done by the very talented Megann Colan.

An edit to a previous post

2008-12-08T17:00:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted about my work style and just wanted to post the final version of the Pirates Page for my latest children’s book illustrations.

All illustrations are completed in Adobe PhotoShop and then brought together with the text in InDesign.

What’s New This Week…

2008-11-24T13:33:00.003-07:00

This week I’m wrapping up a really cute little product for MasterPieces Puzzles. It’s using a style that I developed for them a few months ago. We decided that a simple “cut-paper” look would be best for quickness and ease. Here are a few of the sketches prior to the finished piece.

Sea Otters:

Turtles:

“Going On a Train”

2008-11-21T18:48:00.006-07:00

My first children’s book is published and printed, CDs are done and it’s ready for sale here « Music Speaks Publishing ».

It was printed locally by Skyline Printing and they did an excellent job. Great color, great binding and quality work all the way. This was definitely a learning experience for me as I am well into my second children’s book. I’m learning how to judge my time a little better as far as the illustrations go, and I’ve also learned to trust your own judgment. If an image isn’t working there is no sense in not just scrapping it and starting over. I did this on two of the spreads in the book and I’m very glad that I did that.

The finished book looks great and I hope that I can work with Pamela in the future on more projects.

Pencil Sketches

2008-11-12T21:52:00.001-07:00

Illustration Style: Step by Step

2008-11-03T11:20:00.010-07:00

Today I’m working on coloring pages for a new Children’s Book. As I was working I thought it might be interesting to see the numerous steps that I take to achieve the finished result. Every illustrator works differently, and each one has their own techniques, but here are mine:

STEP 1: I use a blue colored pencil (not the non-repro blue; I find the pencil to hard to draw with as the lead is very dense) to draw in my line-work to work out the shapes and style. I then go over this with an HB graphite pencil and scan in the image. In my case, I don’t actually have a scanner, so I take a macro-shot with my digital camera and import this into PhotoShop to clean up. (A scanner is high up on my wish list!) Sometimes, I might rearrange elements in PhotoShop that I didn’t think were working as well as possible in the original sketch.

STEP 2: I open my sketch in Adobe Illustrator and with a personalized brush that I have created, go over my sketch and create linework. I make subtle changes to the style and shapes to help refine the sketch.

STEP 3: I add the color and refine the pallette in Adobe Illustrator. They have a tool called Live Paint Bucket, which is essential do doing these drawings quickly. Thank you Adobe! Here is where I start to notice little things that annoy me, like the girls sword tip lining up exactly on the edge of the ship – or tangent to this line. There’s also a few other areas and of course the rope needs to be brought in front of the girl, not under her leg to trip her.

STEP 4: I bring all of my layers into Adobe PhotoShop and start painting using a custom brush that I made. I want this to look like it was created in pastels, so it has a bit of a rough edge to it. This file is only 80% done at this point, however I’ll update it when it’s complete.

What’s New This Week!

2008-10-06T15:49:00.005-07:00

I'm currently working on illustrations for another children's book. These are all just preliminary pencil drawings waiting approval to go into the color stage. I haven't yet worked out the way I'm going to color it though – watercolor, pastels, or acrylic. I'll be playing with that later this week.

I'm playing with the expression on the teachers face. She's supposed to look surprised/confused at what the little boy tells her he did for the weekend.

What’s New This Week!

2008-10-03T14:19:00.006-07:00

Well, this week has been a busy one working on another concept for MasterPieces Puzzles. This one is a lot of fun - undersea exploring!

This is only a very small section of a much larger image.

On Drawing the Figure

2008-10-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

For me, drawing the human figure is about going back to basics. Going back to when I was in school studying fine art at Colorado State University. My favorite teacher, Gary L Keimig, taught the most fundamental aspects of figure drawing. Starting with 30-second gesture drawings you learn to loosen up both your mind and body.

Gesture Drawing

2008-10-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

30-second gestures:

10-minute gesture

3-Hour Pose

2008-10-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Conté Sketch

2008-10-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

LeapFrog Illustrations

2008-09-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

Last year I had the great challenge of creating a number of illustrations for LeapFrog. Below are a few of my pieces done for a licensee of theirs. This was my first challenge to stay with a defined style, which is much more difficult because you have to draw to someone else's ideals. I quickly adapted and was soon blue-lining other illustrators works to fit the look. All pieces are done in Adobe Illustrator and finished in Adobe PhotoShop with a set of brushes created by their lead illustrators.

One of the greatest things about working with LeapFrog was learning about the world of Children's Educational Products and just how much work goes into these pieces. Each product has to have learning merit behind the toy and is analyzed by a team of educators.

All artwork is ©2007-2008 LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. and was created exclusively for LeapFrog.

My Home

2008-09-30T14:16:00.002-07:00

A great concept for children.

Money Match

2008-09-30T14:15:00.001-07:00

The challenge here is to teach children about money and what it can buy. These illustrations were quick to do but still fun nonetheless.

Matching Blocks

2008-09-30T14:11:00.002-07:00

This product comes with blocks that have matching images on them and the word printed on the other side. You build the playmat shown above out of 6 large pieces. The challenge was to present a scene in which a picnic and bed a cow and a fan would all come into play.

Rainforest Diorama Puzzle

2008-09-30T14:08:00.002-07:00

This is by far my favorite piece. I not only got to illustrate the entire product, I was able to create the paper engineering as well as design the basic box.

Above images represents the diorama backdrop printed on the inside of the box.

Dress-Up Lily Bath Toy

2008-09-30T14:06:00.002-07:00

This piece is a foam dress-up puzzle. Of course, being the modern motorcycle riding woman that I am, I gave Lily all sorts of jobs to aspire to, but threw in the Princess for fun. Each piece has a little bit of Lily's unique personality, which always includes her flower emblem.

Growth Chart Puzzle

2008-09-30T13:19:00.001-07:00

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

4-Piece wooden puzzle with removable stickers to add important dates.

Current Work in Progress

2008-09-13T18:19:00.003-07:00

Another piece that is in progress for MasterPieces Puzzle Co. This is in the style of the regional animals I developed using the cut-paper look, just on a much larger scale. This is only a work in progress as it will be populated by many characters in its final adaptation.

New Book Coming Out!

2008-09-02T21:15:00.005-07:00

I'm so excited to introduce my first illustrated children's book, "Going on a Train," by Pamela Ott. She is a song writer/author and Children's Educator in Tucson Arizona and has written a wonderful little song.

The book will be published by October and available to purchase through her website (up soon) www.musicspeakspub.com.

I've had a great time illustrating the project and have done the entire piece digitally using both Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop. I use a wacom tablet and customized brushes that I developed in PhotoShop to get a pastel chalk feel to the drawings. Of course I did all the preliminary sketches the old-fashioned way; pencil on paper.

I hope everyone has a chance to check out this product and of course I hope you all like the drawings.

Current Work in Progress

2008-09-01T21:28:00.004-07:00

I'm developing a brand new style for a local business, MasterPieces Puzzle Co. This new look draws on a style of cut paper and added pen detail. The focus is on fun, approachable characters that have little bits of regional history to them. The entire style has been developed in Adobe Illustrator using their many tools.

We're developing a cool concept called "Animals Around the World" and here are Russia, Australia and China with their Siberian Tiger, Koala and Panda respectively.

Selected pages from "Going on a Train"

2008-09-01T14:54:00.002-07:00

A Little Bit About Me

2008-08-31T18:36:00.003-07:00

I am an illustrator in Tucson, Arizona who has worked for clients like Jeppesen, LeapFrog, Hidden City Games and many local small businesses. I specialize in Children's Illustration, mostly for educational toys, games, books and more. I traditionally work in digital media using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator but I am also trained in almost all other media like watercolor, acrylic, pastel chalk, colored pencil and my favorite - charcoal.

I studied fine art at Colorado State University and subsequently earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. I have been drawing all my life but started my university schooling as a physics major.

I am an avid motorcyclist and usually that is my only form of transportation. I once lived without owning a car for more than 1/2 a year and all I can say, is that packing a week of groceries onto a bike has taught me how to prioritize!