No words needed here, just had to record this pose.
Recently in Animals Category
Finally! A February entry. I have been swamped with work, which is a good thing. So, while slaving away in the studio, I kept thinking about this sketchbook and how I haven't made any entries lately. Looking around me, I thought,"I'll just scan in some of the stuff on the walls..." So, here are two drawings. Both are are small pencil studies on clayboard. A great surface, but not much tooth, which means I can't build up layers of linework. I did the first drawing from photo reference, and then the beastman followed shortly after.
This is an unpublished sample I did a few years back, while working on "Little Scraggly Hair," written by Lynn Cullen, pub'd by Holiday House, 2003.
This was made at the point where I am trying to figure out what kind of style to use. Every picture book has a different flavor. I am always feeling out different styles in the beginning stages of working on a pic book, so I can best honor the story's personality. I like the dirty pencil line look of this piece, I think it goes well with the text. I especially like the relationship of the woman to the zebra. Unfortunately there is a nasty water stain traveling right through her face and across the top. I photoshopped most of it out....
This is the old girl on "Swimmer's Rock" in southern Maine a few years ago.
This is our dear Daisy who has patiently weathered the hurricane kittens. It was a little bit rough in the beginning. The kittens would get too curious and Daisy would snap and charge at them. They finally learned some respect. Now, they rub up against her and play with her tail, run in between her legs, and follow her around. She isn't really as into them as they are into her, but she tolerates them, and then looks up at me with the most amazing eyes. As if to say, "I'll do this for YOU, but it ain't easy..."
Dear dog.
Speaking of dear dogs, my friend John has been helping me with this blog.
I couldn't resist trying to color them. I am sure I like the black and white better, but I am a student of Photoshop and Illustrator, and I am bound and determined to learn these tools.
I am enrolled in a computer illustration class, starting next week. I am so excited to get more info, and find ways to use these programs in my work. I have so much to learn!
My little friends are spread across my drawing table for this pose. What you don't see are all the dirty little paw prints all over everything on top of that table. While they are still not quite a year old, they take up quite a bit of space. I am usually pushing them over this way or that, or just giving up and putting my work in my lap.
They are brother and sister, discovered by a family friend in a dumpster in Connecticut before they found their way to our home. We love our kitties.