brigade

This is the final scene from a story I'm working on for the picture book class.  Here, Captain Cluck's brigade of pigships brings back their farm animal captors and sets them loose on their own version of paradise.  Check out the corn river and mud fountains. . sweeeet.

During the past few weeks, this illustration went through several iterations:

I first roughly mapped out the composition in pencil.

Here was my color study.  This basically helped me figure out my palette and saturation levels for the piece.

This was my first painted draft.  With feedback, I ended up taking away the sun and moving the background scene lower because they were pulling focus away from the middle and foreground.  Also, the monitor screen and font were in an awkward position and style, so that was also changed.

I can't emphasize how important it was to have my classmates' feedback throughout this process.  They really helped me tighten up the composition.  My friends at the Illopond helped me many times as well.  I'm still not sure if it's quite finished, but I definitely think the illustration has come a long way.

So I guess that's my picture book tip for the week: revise revise revise. . and in between, get feedback from people you respect and trust!

scary

Cute and scary. . that's how I roll :).  For a Halloween treat, I'm sharing this Pudgy Puppy Zombie Dog coloring page that you can print out and scribble on.  If you think you or your little one creates a masterpiece, feel free to share it in the comments section.

Speaking of Pudgy Puppy, remember Illopond's spoooky anthology?  If you want to read a few gorgeously drawn and creatively written stories, accompanied with a personalized doodle, just click on the image below:

fuel

Sorry folks.  It's busy busy here so this illustration is A LOT more rough than usual.  However, I thought the concept was too fun to let slip by. . squirrels fueling their own Jack O' Lantern. . tee hee.

Maybe I'll clean it up in the future. . play around with perspective/colors a little more. . we'll see.

Until then, ever wonder what I sound like?  You can hear me geek out over our APE experience at this month's pondCAST:

Warning:  I sound like an auto-tuned chipmunk

contraption

I was watching Mythbusters this week and they tried to recreate the pendulum contraption based on Newton's laws.  I figured a nerdy squirrel would have to resort to more natural materials if he wanted to build a similar contraption.

Spooky Apple Lanterns aside, I know you want to read some awesome spooky tales created by awesomely talented people:

Click on the picture if you're awesome ;)

hibernate

 

Did you know that Mushroom Bunnies gather Bendigo Jellynuts to prepare for hibernation?  I'm totally making this stuff up as I go. . but I'm thinking of fleshing out this mushroom bunny with a few more illustrations.  Any suggestions on activities/settings for him are welcome!

I had a blast at APE last weekend, finally meeting my fellow Illopond collaborators for the first time :)  Michelle Kondrich, Denver Wagner, Sam Kirkman, and I were there to promote our anthologies, including our most recent one called "Boo! Spooky Tales for Kids"

Would you like a copy? Signed by me?  With a personal sketch?  Why, look at that. . .I still have a few copies left at my Etsy shop :)  First person to order it and mention my blog in the Etsy comments section also gets a free sketch card!

ferocious

Captain Cluck is one ferocious space chicken, and his fleet of Eggsilon pigships is heading towards Earth with a very top secret mission.  Who knows what they want or what they're after!

This is a new story I'm working on for Illopond's upcoming anthology: "8 in Spaaace!"  I'm pretty excited about where it's heading and will be trying out this painterly style for the illustrations.

Speaking of Illopond, we'll be debuting our anthology "Boo!" at the Alternative Press Expo this weekend:

Please stop by table 515 to say hi!  I'll be there promoting our new anthology and selling some Pudgy Puppy goodies, as well as commissions.  Mention this blog and I'll even give you a special treat :)