pbj choice

PBJ Choice: Dandelion

I thought I'd share a page from my sketchbook today. Dandelions have been a reoccurring theme for me this summer. They have made their way into my beads, jewelry and now they are sneaking into my drawings.

Here is one of my dandelion beads. There are many illustrators who have day jobs, I'm happy that mine is making beads and creating jewelry. The task is to find the balance between working full time and making time for illustration. I find I always have time to work on things I love. The challenge is to keep motivated when there isn't a deadline!

pbj choice

I made this illustration for an Illustration Friday, the topic was "save".

I learned some useful things out of this little illustration. I remember I was busy in the middle of working on a book but I didn't want to disappear for that long, specially since I'd made the goal of trying to participate weekly on illustration friday. So I decided to just put aside the book for a sec and grabbed a small piece of scrap watercolor paper and without thinking much went right in and sketched on it lightly on the paper. I had the image in my head, of me as a kid, saving little birds. I did that many times, some with happy endings lots of others not so much :o(

After I had the sketch down I began applying watercolor very loose and quickly. At the end I was happy with it.

I learned that sometimes it is good to change projects, even if it is just for an hour, it helps keep you motivated and I think it clears the mind a bit. I also think that to work a subject based on personal experiences, whenever it applies of course, is very helpful and really adds to a piece. And the last thing I learned from this is, is never throw away those little pieces of scrap paper.. you never know what little treasure can end up there.

pbj choice

Do you guys like to play with the filters in Photoshop? I did this morning. Fun city! I applied a few of the artistic filters to my original sketch (top left). Top right is the cutout filter, bottom left is the paint daub filter, bottom right is the poster edges filter. Along with being fun, it helps me see my work with fresh eyes. Sort of like when you flip your work horizontally to find weak spots. Here I noticed his left arm is a bit muddy. I can go back and erase some of the pencil marks, that'll help.

PBJ's Choice

Some fun marker-art lately has been helping me loosen up creatively. This one is an artist trading card called "Big Happy Kitty". Enjoy the kitty!

PBJ Choice

Last time I posted, I was revising a cow. The third time was a charm. Here is a snippet of the final art.

PBJ Choice: Ch-ch-ch-changes

I went back into my archives for this week's post. This piece was done 6 years ago, as part of a children's illustration class I took when I finally woke up a little bit to what it was I really wanted to do with my career. I think it was the second finished piece I did. I started working in watercolor and colored pencil (heavy on the colored pencil) and only just switched to gouache in 2007. I cringe a bit looking at this, there are a million things I'd do differently now - but it really shows how far I've come. I think it's a good lesson for all of us, to look back on our history and pat ourselves on the back.

blue

I had a dog and his name was Blue, I betcha five dollars he's a good dog, too.
~Peter, Paul and Mary

My uncle used to sing this song to me when I was little. I loved it. Currently, I'm illustrating a chapter book and this little dog is one of the characters. His name is Blue. And yep, he's a good dog too. :)