Illustration Friday: I Spy

I drew this before the last illustration Friday but didn't get to post it. So here's my "I Spy"...

We used to play the game in the car on long trips.

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Conference on Children and Literature

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been dealing with my 3 year old's kidney problems, which thankfully are now all resolved after many tests, procedures and 2 surgeries.

After all that, I was able to take a break and attend a conference I was on the committee for. I hosted the guest illustrator, Brett Helquist (illustrator of the Series of Unfortunate Events books and many others). He taught some great breakout sessions on composition and character design. He suggested illustrators study "Picture This" by Molly Bang and internalize it. He also talked about Balance, Motion, Contrast in relation to composition. His theory on Balance was great...he called it the elevator scenario. If there are 3 people (say one larger person and 2 smaller) on the elevator and one gets off, the other two shift positions or there is tension (don't want to stand next to each other if there's room). See the illustrated example.

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Illustration Friday: Hide

This is a piece I did for a book I was writing myself. Philomel had it for a little while and I was working with an editor there on it but it never came full circle. Didn't make it through the big board room. It was also one I painted in Corel Painter. I loved this little girl and her great aunt. They were fun to draw. I seem to lose some of the charm in her character as I do other characters and attempt to capture the same elements that are in her.

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Win a Hippo

I went to Peruvian Park Elementary School last night and did a couple of presentations for kids and their parents for Literacy Night. It's always a lot of fun to share my love of illustration with kids. They even help me create while I'm there. Because I only had 30 min for each presentation, I only had 9 minutes to draw at the end. I call on students to come up and help me create a character. Last night we created Henry and Hilda Hippo. I told the kids I'd post the Hippos on my blog and they could see the finished product of their creations (we only got the basic colors blocked and the outline done besides the head...9 minutes isn't very long). So here they are...Hilda and Henry.

These are the questions I asked the kids to help fill out the character profiles of Hilda and Henry before we illustrated them. See if you can answer the questions by looking at the picture. I'll post the answers another day.

What is his/her favorite color?
What is his/her favorite candy?
Is she/he messy or neat?
What is something she never goes anywhere without? (this one only applies to Hilda)
What does he/she like to do? (This one is the hardest to decipher from the illo)

I am also announcing that Hilda and Henry can each be WON (mailed to you). I asked the kids (you can participate too) to send me a story they write for Hilda or Henry. The best story wins...that simple. I'll post the results later on my blog (and possibly the winning story if permission is granted).

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Illustration Friday: communication

This was just another test with Corel Painter and my Wacom. I downloaded a trial version of Painter X and like the pens and markers, but the watercolors still need work. I just used my Corel Painter 3 essentials to do the painting on this. The sketch took less than 5 minutes with my Wacom tablet. The color...about 30 but that includes interruptions from my 3 year old and 8 year old giving tips. I like the giraffe, not thrilled with the monkey. Don't ask me what made me think to illustrate this topic in this way...I don't know. I drew the giraffe first and then thought about an animal that seems to chatter...like they are spreading gossip or something. So, out this came. But hey, I'm proud of myself for finally doing something original again for illustration friday.

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School Visits anyone?

I've been doing some school visits and parent night presentations (more and more just recently). Over the last few years, I've always just carted my grandma's old old slide projector around and showed my slides through it's dirty lens. But it finally died on me. The last time I did a little 50 minute presentation at a young writer's conference a week ago, I borrowed my brother's digital projector (thanks Eric). IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER! Since I already have 2 more visits scheduled in the next 2 weeks, I figured it was time to pony up and buy my own. I didn't want to lug a laptop every time along WITH the projector so I thought of my options. I could use a video ipod but those are a few hundred dollars. OR...I could use a USB Thumbdrive.

I found that some digital projectors have a USB 2.0 port and will read jpg images or mpg4 videos. The one I bought is the HITACHI CPX1. It is VERY lightweight and has a high number of lumens and all sorts of great functions for computerless presentations. TheNERDS.net was the cheapest place I found it (that was reputable) and they were GREAT. The projector arrived and I LOVE IT! It's much brighter than my brother's was for those school rooms that don't darken well, and the USB reader worked beautifully. All I have to take to schools now is this little 3 lb projector and a thumbdrive. I can't wait to try it out next week! Wish me luck.

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