Thursday, April 30, 2009

My Next Project


I have drawn out for the most part the next painting I will be working on over the weekend.  I'm not sure if I will be keeping the cats or the tree... 
The inspiration came from a new blog I am following that discusses different Disney animated movie backgrounds.  I am a fan of looking at these and feel that some have the most inspiring color palettes and design.

Twitter, Flickr, Blogger...

I have been looking at blog postings (I have a couple that I read all the time) and also looking on Twitter... and finding that I visit these so often that there are not a lot of updates compared to the amount of time I visit the sites. I think that's a definite que that I need to spend more time working on art and visit these more like twice a week instead of several times a day!! It is addictive though...
I am especially addicted to reading Neil Gaiman's Tweets... he is so funny and always, always, doing something exciting! (I must send my sister a copy of The Graveyard Book, buy Coraline when its released, and also get his latest children's book, the Blueberry Girl when I have the money).
I sincerely can't wait until I have enough money saved up to send out promotional material/submissions. :)
Hope to have artwork posted soon.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Stumptown Photo



Really quick, here is a picture from the Stumptown Comics Fest that my co-worker sent to me.
:)

Happy Friday!



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ink..?

Well, I am going to post my embarassing attempt at ink.  I really need to work on this.
I don't think I really did what I wanted to do with the ink, and I think it has a lot to do with what I decided to paint.  It's funny because I really only like the washes!  This would be similar to what?  Hmmm, watercolor maybe?  I do like the koala-guy.

I think that I may just have to paint this instead or move on.  There are plenty of paintings in my head that should be out on paper at least once.

On a totally different note, I heard from my twin that they have adopted a kitten.  My other sister works at a Vet Clinic and I guess someone dropped off a little white kitten with happy blue eyes all because he was deaf.  So they took him in and now my nephew has been completely enthralled.  His name is Oliver (after "Oliver and Company" the Disney movie).

This makes me wish I could go meet him in person although I did get to see him through I-Chat.

I have been in a slump... but I think I am going to come out now.  I think that messing up this picture as long as I was working on some sort of artwork, has now energized me since the convention.  By the way, Josh has posted some photos from the event on his Flickr account under set titled Stumptown 2009.  I will make the title of this blog posting a link to his Flickr account.  


Comics Galore

I finally have a free moment here to post really quickly that the Stumptown Comic Fest was loads of fun! We were way in the back, but still managed to sell some mini's and some books.
(click on this blog title for a link to the Big Illustration Party Time Blogspot shownotes on the Comic Fest- the podcast is free download, by the way, and loads of fun.)

I have recooperated from all the sitting and standing and talking and loading and unloading... and laundry... that tonight, I pray I will be able to work some on that drawing I posted a while ago!

Meanwhile, please check out the lovely blogs I have been following (you can see them when you click on my profile). I just love these blogs!! Most are children book illustrators, but some are useful blogs related to the publishing industry. I really admire these creators and they provide me with loads of inspiration.

Ok, back to my day job.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

When drawing...

The last comment on my drawing made me feel like posting a little blog in response.
Kevin Morrison (the author of the third book I just did illustrations for, I Can Speak Bully, due out in Fall) wrote:
"I like your pictures for the stories they can tell. I enjoy the depth of your characters beyond the lines and colors on the page. Do you have stories in your mind when you create them?"

I think that it's true for me that I get pretty attached to the characters in my work. In fact, if you ask Josh, he'll tell you I will talk to them while I'm painting... Sounds a little creepy, but it's more like this, "Well aren't you a nice, little frog? I bet you'd like to be green with a red stripe down your back! Then you'll have lots of things to do..." In fact, the pages for Kevin's book I worked on, there were a few where I got carried away and started crying for this little boy... Pretty cheesey of me to admit, but I think that it's just the way I am...

Now as weird as that may sound to some people, when you paint or draw, you invest a lot of your time with the work.. you sort of "get to know" the painting. I think for me, it starts with "I'd love to paint something with wide open space... yes... a desert! I haven't done a desert with a lot of funky-shaped rock formations yet... that makes me think of Dragon Ball! Oh, an adventurous little girl with a friend. Her friend should be like a koala... and they both ride her dirt bike together..." (and on and on and on...).

I think I can recall a time in class when I was in college with my absolute favorite Professor (at the time, he's now the "Head Honcho" of the Illustration Department at CSULB) David Hadlock (so unbelievably talented and genius!). It was one of the first classes I had ever taken at the college. Some background before I go further... my twin sister, Mei, and I used to draw side-by-side since I can remember... We would talk ideas out and make up cartoons and stories... so I was used to verbalizing my ideas out and just brainstorming as I went along when it came to coming up with ideas to draw.
So in class, Hadlock would go around the room and stop at different student's desks and try to see how they were coming along... whenever he would come by my desk, he would say something that would set off something in my head where I suddenly had a jolt of inspiration and could see so many possibilities in a single painting/drawing. And I loved that about him. I also noticed that he did the same thing when he was critiquing other work... he seemed to have endless love for imagination.
He's also the reason I wanted to do children's books and not manga/comics. He used children's books to show examples of something like "perspective." It made me realize how much I identified and loved children's books.

So in a very long story... the answer is that yes, I think out almost everything about a character when I paint it... or at least by the end of the painting, I have a pretty good idea of who that little person is and what they would be doing. Most of the time, I think of something I'd like to see or paint and the story follows as I go along.

Sorry if this post has horrible grammar by the way.. another reason I am not the best of authors/writers. I am also pretty wiped out because Josh and I just spent a couple hours getting ready for the Stumptown Comic Fest. We get to go early tomorrow and set up before Saturday. I might print out the comic pages that I do have, too, so I am still tired.
(Actually the pugs are asleep on the bed because they know how crazy their parents are when it comes to staying up too late).

Thank you for the comments everyone! :)
I have links to people on my blog as well if anyone would like to see other blog pages.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Possible Ink...

Well, I am going to post the drawing I'm working on so far...

From what Mei has told me, and I agree, there are some fixes still, but I like to post the "in progress" stuff.

I'll have to ground the bike some more, change the height of the rock formations so it has more variation, and pay more attention to the clouds....

But it's off to a nice start. I have to fight the urge to paint it... I am going to attempt to ink this one... I do have the image scanned so if it ends up I want to paint it, too, I can still get the image and transfer it to watercolor paper.

Hope people like it so far...

It's taking too long for the weekend to come, but then I have to remember that this weekend will be Stumptown Comic Fest. Josh suggested I take my comic pages (reprints) to show to Darkhorse because they are scouting for someone to do an online comic for them.

I hope I have time to follow up on this.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Moody Painting...


I have posted a new painting up... one that I wanted to have more of a "something's about to happen!" mood. I hope that it's achieved that kind of an edge.
I finished it a lot earlier than I thought I would so I may just keep the creativity stirring and start plans for the next piece... now to decide whether I want to start attempts at inking again or if I would rather paint another painting! I already have ideas for another painting but it does sound fun to pick up the pen and ink again.
Let's see which urge wins!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Stumptown Comic Fest!

I will be at the Stumptown Comic Fest with my fiance, Joshua Kemble, and friend (co-host for Big Illustration Party Time Podcast) Kevin Cross! Click on the title of this blog for a link to the Stumptown Comic Fest site.
Thanks for visiting and hope to see you there!

Location: Portland, OR
April 18th & 19th from 10:00 am to 6 p.m.: The Stumptown Comics Fest 2009 will again be hosted by the Lloyd Center Doubletree hotel. The Doubletree is just a couple blocks away from the Lloyd Center Shopping Mall and movie theaters, dozens of restaurants and hotels, and is conveniently located next to a Portland Tri-Met MAX Line stop for accesibility. The Exhibition Hall is over 14,000 square feet, and parking is available for attendees at $3 a day in the adjacent parking garage.

Doubletree Hotel
1000 NE Multnomah
Portland, OR 97232

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Drawing on I-Chat

I suppose it's a funny situation that I have at home because my family lives in California and I live in Portland.
My twin sister and I both drew together throughout our lives and therefore, I cannot get used to drawing without her feedback. Luckily, we both have a Mac and I-chat and are able to meet on there, scanning our roughs and paintings/comics back and forth to critique.
I find this invaluble because she's able to see what is wrong with my work immediately, as I am with hers, and because we are so used to each other, we are able to verbally (and sometimes not so verbally- we ARE twins) steer the other in the right direction.
Last night we went back and forth on how I might paint this next piece I have planned out on my watercolor paper. It's more complicated than some of my other paintings, which is good, but it also, if I do it right, should convey a "mood." I've been wanting to really build that in my paintings.

I have also decided, after being inspired by several comic books, to once again, do some black and white/ink work.
So it's nice to be back at the drawing board.