Illustration Friday: "Prehistoric"

T-Rex tyke for Illustration Friday's theme, Prehistoric.

Illustration Friday "Flying"

Wrapped

For the Illustration Friday prompt "wrapped".

Ballerina - WIP

Yes, I'm back to the ballet theme again! :) Here are some studies I did while watching ballet performances.





So what are the sketches for? Figure drawing practice and warm-ups for my next picture, a sequence of dance moves starring this character. I should be finished with it tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Can't Wait to Grow Up!

For the Illustration Friday prompt "impatience". This girl wants to hurry up and grow into an adult so that she can be just like her mother.

A number of ideas came to mind for illustrating the word "impatience": a boy cutting in the lunch line, a group of kids being served cupcakes, while one of the kids complains about the wait, or a kid yelling at another one to let him have his turn on a ride... but then this final idea popped into my head, I liked it because it presented a different take on the word with a positive spin.

Treasure - WIP

Here's the next piece I am working on for my portfolio. This one will be getting a black and white treatment rather than color.



By the way, for any artists who want to take part in the daily speedpainting exercises I've been doing, here's the photos so far. Aside from the photo of the dog (speedpaint 10, which was taken by its owner), they are all my photos. I've been selecting them based on various challenges (fur, foliage, water, reflections, interiors, lighting, etc). If you decide to participate, I recommend focusing in on a portion of the photo rather then trying to paint the whole thing. Have fun! :)

Boy and His Gator 3 - Complete

It's done! Here is the final Boy And His Gator picture for my portfolio. It's a sad parting, but a bathtub (even a clawfoot bathtub) is just not a proper place for a growing alligator. However, as you may recall in the bonus image, the boy can still always visit his little friend. :)

This picture took me forever to do. Many, many little details in the trees and undergrowth. I've been working on the coloring portion of it since the 29th of June. (The drawing part of it was about a half day on top of that.)

Incidentally, I've been playing around with Livestream, and recorded some of the coloring process for this picture with it. You can check out those videos here. (click the on-demand tab to access them).

Boy and His Gator - Bonus

This image is *not* final part of the three-part series "Boy and His Gator". I'm still working on that image (stay tuned!). :)

Rather, I created this one for use on the back side of a new promotional postcard I'll be putting together soon.

Boy and His Gator 2 - Complete

Whoops! Mom found out about boy's secret alligator friend.


This is the second illustration in the three-part series, "Boy and His Gator". The first piece can be viewed here: [link]

Pencil lines + coloring in Photoshop CS3.

In contrast to the first image, where I used cool shadows to give the scene an ambient, calm feeling of two friends sharing a private moment, for this second piece, I used warmer shadow tones. I felt that the red tones helped heighten the intensity and harshness of the scene. I imagine mom storming into the room and turning on the light.

Quick tutorial regarding the denim texture:
The denim texture comes from [link] (Thanks Messa for posting such a useful pack of textures!) After I finished painting the shadows and highlights on the jeans, I made a new layer, shrunk down one of the textures and stitched it together over the length of the jeans. Then I set the layer to soft light and 50% opacity. Finally, I used the dodge tool over the highlighted areas of the jeans to soften the intensity of the texture.

Boy and His Gator 1 - Complete

Boy and His Gator WIP 1

Here's the first drawing in a series of three about a boy and his pet gator. Who hasn't wished they could have an alligator for a pet? :)

Incidentally, I was at a park the other day, and had set down my purse for a moment to feed some seeds to a squirrel. When I picked up my purse, I discovered a small stowaway--no, not an alligator, haha--a baby lizard. When I tried to remove him, he scurried onto my hand and up to my shoulder and tilted his head to give me a seemingly quizzical look. I instantly fell in love with the little guy. Of course, I couldn't keep him, but I walked around with him for a bit before depositing him on a bush. He didn't want to leave. Friendliest baby lizard I've ever met. Good luck in your adventures, little lizard! *sniff*

Anyways, back to the drawing, I'm planning on drawing all three one after the other, and then doing the same with the coloring process. If I'm satisfied with the finished picture, the first one might just become the new picture for my next promotional postcard.


Here's a sneak peek at the roughs for the other two:

Red Shoes - Complete

This image was originally done in color, but upon completion, I found that the color detracted from the focus of the piece, her red shoes. So, I put a mask around the shoes and turned the rest grayscale. I think the result is more effective. Though it's a little bit sad to spend all that time coloring just to throw out colors at the end. Eh, c'est la vie!

Speaking of which, here is the original color version:

I tried to make everything gloomy and gray except for the girl, but I'm not too happy with how the colors turned out (another reason I went grayscale). Any opinions on it?

Red Shoes WIP 3

Clean lineart, ready for coloring.

Red Shoes WIP 2

Rough Sketch

Baking Cookies With Mom - Complete

Pencil for the line art, Photoshop CS3 for the colors.

Baking Cookies With Mom WIP 3

Ok, whew! The comic assignments are done, so I'm back to work on the portfolio. Picking up where I left off, here's the completed line art for "Baking Cookies With Mom" (Previously titled "Mother's Day"). Lots of general tweaks. Cleaned up line work, finished character art, made some corrections to Mom's anatomy, gave her a wardrobe change and turned the nondescript puppy into a pug (I love pugs; they're so adorable and...pugly!).


Next up, colors! Once this piece is done, the next thing I'm going to tackle is my interpretation of a classic fairy tale in a mock book cover format. Should be fun. :)

Mother's Day WIP 2

Here's the rough draft for the Mother's Day piece:


Mmm, cookies!

There's still a lot to do. Need to put some more stuff in the corner of the countertop--maybe a mixer or some other appliance. I also need to add the tile floor, and of course sharpen and refine the lines on the characters. I'm currently working at 8.5x11, but I'll probably do a final pencil pass at a larger size.

For now though, it's back to work on the comic assignment. I spent today getting all the thumbnails together and fixed up. Tomorrow, I start penciling the first page of the new chapter.

Mother's Day WIP 1

With Mother's Day right around the corner, for my next portfolio piece, I decided to center my idea around "spending time with Mom". I have fond memories of my mom teaching me how to make lemon meringue pies and chocolate chip cookies; working together to make something delicious.

I had a couple different ideas for how to approach the concept:In the first two, the kids are baking cookies (and making a giant mother's day card in #2) to surprise Mom. I think these are fun ideas, but then I remembered that part of the purpose of this piece was to demonstrate my ability to draw an adult figure in addition to the kids.

In #3, the little girl is breaking an egg into the bowl while the younger brother "supervises", and mom offers guidance (and the puppy waits for treats).

Finally, in #4, mom assists the girl in putting the cookies in the oven while younger brother eats/drips cookie dough in the background.

I've decided to go with 4 since it has a lot of fun elements to it.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the time to finish it before Mother's Day. But we shall see! After all, I didn't expect to finish Polar Pal today. It all depends on my comic schedule. Stay tuned for more progress.

Polar Pal - Complete

Had a little bit of extra time, so I finished this. :)

Polar Pal WIP 2

I ended up going with my third idea, even though it was the least exciting angle. It occurred to me that painting the aurora borealis in the sky would make for a really nice effect. Thanks to Chan for the inspiration. Your comment about the moon gave me the idea. :)

I got the go-ahead on the next comic from my editor, so the colors are on hold for the time being, but at least I got the drawing done. :)