Monday, December 15, 2014

BLIN's Journey - Illustration created for Tomie dePaola Award

I'm excited to show the piece I created for the SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award.  I was one of fifteen artists chosen as a semi-finalist.  For our final piece we were given a piece of text and told to illustrate it however we would like.  The text was very open-ended.

Below I show my process.
I started by brainstorming different compositions.


Then I refined the composition I chose.


After that I did a few color studies.

I blocked in  the basic shapes.

I added the details and text.

Finally, I added textures to the different objects.  Finished!

Tomie is going to announce the winner later this month.  I'm really pleased with my piece and hope he picks me!



Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Even more useful tools and podcasts!

I have even more useful tools and podcasts I'd like to share with you!

Tools and Resources:

nuSchool - Form to help you price your work.
I have used this tool to help me price my work for clients.  I have found it to be accurate and very helpful.




KidLit411 - A resource for everything children's book related
The creators of KidLit411 have taken so many resources about children's books and have put them on one website.  It is a great website that covers everything from contests, to tips, to marketing, and social media.  Think of it as like a home base for kidlit.



Will Terry is a successful children's book illustrator (he also has worked in other markets).  His YouTube channel has some great information for freelance illustrators.  He also is a teacher so he explains things very well.  I find it a useful tool to listen to while I work.  I have learned quite a few things from his videos.



Podcasts:

Chris Oatley is a former Disney animation artist.  He shares wonderful interviews and tips through his podcast and on his website.  He also shares great storytelling advice.




Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Completed PiBoIdMo, More useful tools and another neat podcast!

I'm excited to announce that I have completed PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month).  During the month of November I came up with one picture book idea every day.  Some ideas were bad, and some ideas were great!  I'm going to expand on some of my new ideas to create more books.


I have a few fun, useful tools that I want to share.

The Storymatic is a fun brainstorming tool I use for helping to create stories and illustrations.  You pick one card that is a subject, then two cards that are situation based.  Then you combine the cards together to create one story - it's really fun!  I've gotten some great ideas from using this tool.


Kyle T Webster Photoshop Brushes.  These photoshop brushes are absolutely amazing.  They are so fun to use.  These brushes have also increased my productivity and can help make digital art look very traditional. 


I also have another favorite podcast to share:

The Picturebooking Podcast is a great, fun, and informative podcast about everything picture book related.  Nick Patton, the host of the podcast, is an author-illustrator and brings a unique view to the podcast. iTunes link here.