I just finished a few little line art illustrations for the interior of a book. Here’s a fight/action scene (oh the drama!)
Here’s some more action, but a little less violent…
And here they’ve made up. Awwww…
I’ve been working on a few other little things lately too & will have some more goodness to share this week.
So I did it. I finished my first 32-page book proposal. I’ve sent it off into the big world to see if it can stand on it’s own two feet. My little baby. It’s based on my Dear Sweet Children and the conversations I have with them ALL. DAY. LONG. Here’s the title page:
I only did two pages in color, cause I’m not sure what the potential publisher will want. (Do they even want it the 9×11″ format that it is now? Or will I need to make it horizontal? I am lazy and afraid of commitment, so I only finished 2 pages…..)
Originally I was going to make the protagonist a little girl with long blond hair (hmmmm, wonder where I got that idea…). But Maggie wisely suggested that I may want to mix up my portfolio a little bit. Even though this Dear Darling doesn’t look exactly like Ella, they still share many, many traits…
Please be advised, I’ve never left the girls at the store. I didn’t even leave them at the library after Story Time on Tuesday. Though I did get close…
I realize I’ve totally slacked on my blog posts lately. I’ve been working on another book proposal and have been dedicating all my time to that. But it’s not ready to reveal to the world yet. So instead here’s another craft! I’m in charge of the crafts for my Mom’s Group this year, and for our first meeting we’ll be making these fabulous Hair Ties. It’s super easy.
Supplies:
Fabulous Fake Flowers (this olive green rose was hideous when I found it in a bunch at the $1 store, but I saw some potential)
Big Fat Bead (or button)
Hair Elastics
Needle & Thread
Hot Glue Gun
Directions
Take apart the flower. Remove plastic supports (if flower has them) and discard. Resew flower petals onto the hair tie. Sew a big bead in the middle. If you feel like it’s not sturdy enough, squirt some hot glue between the petals (close to where you sewed it all together. But not on the bottom of the flower, cause your hair might get pulled by the glue. Just inside the flower.) Feel crafty.
In my never-ending quest to END THE CLUTTER, my goal for this years crafts is that EVERYTHING MUST HAVE A USE. This, obviously, is a hair tie. But it can double as a little gift. So I whipped up some tags if y’all want some.
(Click on the image to view it at full size. Then right-click to save it on your computer.)
Happy Crafting!
These sweet little twins were born in January. A boy and a girl. Inspired by the snow scene I did for Baby Skye. It was nice to draw something ice-cold. It’s been SO HOT HERE! Which is fun, cause it gives us plenty of excuse to go to the lake…
…go on downtown photo shoots with the cousins…
…and squeeze chickens*.
*NO CHICKENS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS BLOG POST.
I just finished a job for a client in the UK. I’m getting paid in £. (I totally had to copy the pound sign from my email cause I don’t know how to make it.) So my illustrations will now be better traveled than I am. Along with the produce I eat in the winter (hello Argentina, some day I will come visit you!)
I have big dreams of seeing the world “One Day”. Maybe when my sweet husband finishes his degree…. Sigh… Till then, here’s a list of where I’m planning on going.
Paris
Portugal
China
Argentina
Brazil
Vancouver (again, love that city)
New Zealand (why is my spell-checker saying that’s wrong? Apparently my spell-checker needs to get out as much as I do…)
And of course, London. Where I will find a Bobby and see if I finally got his uniform correct…
My Little Ella loves bugs. Unfortunately I’ve passed on my arachnophobia, but besides spiders she LOVES BUGS. And Little Gretta is getting in on the love too. Last week I rescued two rolly pollies and a herd of ants from her inquisitive little fingers. Ella has TWO bug catchers and frequently sends small crawlies to their death with her love (I’ve tried to save them, people, I’ve tried!). So comes the inspiration for my Bug Book, which I just sent to Maggie this week. Here’s a sneak peek at one illustration. I wanted it to be a “Pretty” bug book. Is it too “pretty”? I hope not. Bugs aren’t just for boys, you know. And boys can like pretty things, right? Right???
What do you get the most fabulous friend who has everything? A lovely set of handmade cards, of course! I whipped these up for my fellow Taurus who’s birthday is TODAY!!! Happy Birthday J! I hope Rhett Miller makes all your dreams come true! And really, doesn’t the bald eagle just scream “Thank You”? I know.
And because I just Love To Give, here’s the layout if you’d like to make your own (click to view the full size file, then right click to save it. Fold in half & cut at 5.5″, AKA The Middle Of The Paper.). This is ready to print on 8.5×11″ cardstock and will fit size A-2 4.375″ x 5.75″ envelopes. I used watercolors to color them, but colored pencils would work just as well (and you won’t have to flatten them under a pile of 10 encyclopedias to get all the water-warps out). However, you MUST ADD GLITTER. Otherwise I won’t let you have it. GLITTER GLUE IS NOT OPTIONAL!!!
Oh yeah, and I took out J’s name so you can write in your OWN name.
And, because you asked so nicely, here’s an Angsty College Art piece. Awww, just look at it. So sincere. So deep. So embarrassing…
Last week was spent with my family. And one day was spent going through piles & piles of artwork from days past. My mom is a good saver. GOOD SAVER. I documented some, purged some, and kept some. Here are some stellar pieces I thought you might enjoy…
Not feelin well? See the School Nurse. Apparently she has lots of love to give. My first illustration??? “Oi”.
I LOVED MY CABBAGE PATCH KID. So much that I couldn’t stand to keep the icky name that she came with on her birth certificate. So I named her Elizabeth. Cause that was way prettier than the moniker she got stuck with at the factory, er, cabbage patch. And actually, I only loved her because everyone else loved them. I admit it. I got sucked in. Check out my early pastel skillz.
Dear Sweet Sister,
Thank you for posing for me whilst I honed my pastel/portraiture skills. I was going for a Mary Cassatt thing. You really are very pretty. (Except I was not exaggerating your bangs. You need to take that up with Mom. She’s the one that cut them like that.)
Love,
Apryl circa ‘85
Very fashion forward. Check out the layers. Are those black bike pants under her shorts? And flohos? You betcha. I’m guessing some sort of dog & the dude’s legs were just not a priority for Apryl circa ‘87.
Apparently all cities in the future will be abundant with toy stores & babysitting services.
I am a fun lover. And for the record, I only played the flute for approx. 6.5 weeks. Apparently I was not a flute lover. Please notice my super stylish overalls with ONE STRAP undone.
A stunning example of my jr. high years. This piece is especially special as it combines my love of art with my overachieving 8th grade English project.
My BFF from High School. So sweet to sit for me. I remember drawing this my senior year. She sat on the blue couch in my parents house & we talked about her boyfriend. And to thank her for 27 years of friendship, I bequeathed this to her when I saw her last week. (Dude, we have been friends for a LONG TIME). (Also, I SO want to move her mouth about 1/4″ to the left…)
If you’re really REALLY lucky, I might show you some Super Embarrassing Angsty College Art. We’ll see how brave I am.
Once, when I was a kid, I looked at my arm and realized I had a skeleton inside me. And it totally freaked me out. Sure, I knew in theory that I had a set of bones holding my body upright, but I’d never really thought about what was inside my skin keeping my body going. Luckily I’d avoided any serious health crisis, so I hadn’t spent much time considering my innerds. Apparently my imagination was too busy creating soap operas with the Strawberry Shortcake Dolls & My Little Pony crew. Imagine my delight when I got the gig for this little number, an OVERSIZED teacher book for teachin’ 1st graders about their bodies (Oversized as in 15×20″. That, my friends, is big):
Thanks to a fabulous reference book from my local library (shout out to Librarian Mary Claire for her excellent suggestions), I was able to get past my squeamish tendencies to actually enjoy working on a book about our guts.
My most super favorite clients called with this job. Wanna know how much I know about baseball? The art director reviewed my sketch & said, “It’s great! But can you give the kid a catchers mit?” Catchers mitt? What is catcher’s mitt?
I also got to work on a super fun project for one of my other favorite kids mags. It was a rush job, but despite the quick turn-around I’m still happy with the results:
Now I’m off to finish the next set of projects. What are YOU working on?
I went through a brief phase when I was a kid, the “Little House On The Prairie” phase where I wanted everything to be old-fashioned. I took up needlepoint for about 2.5 seconds (alas, my “Cats Are People Too” sampler was never finished. Too bad, how awesome would that be on our wall?) I wore dresses every day. EVERY DAY. I would make two braids in my hair & wind them on top of my head. My biggest project: I attempted to sew. Mom just though I was making a mess, but my intent was to make a dress. And shoes. And a gingham skirt (I had no idea what this “gingham” was, but Laura was always talking about it).
Fast forward to now. I no longer want to be “Old Fashioned”. I am just fine buying my clothes in a store. And I cannot sew. But Ella wanted to make a stuffed animal for her new baby cousin. And that’s how this came to be:
“Ummmmm, great. But what is it?” you may ask? It’s a Kitty-Bear-Unicorn! Of course!
Side View:
And Back View:
Kitty-Bear-Unicorn has popcorn seeds in his feet. And bells in his belly. (They don’t ring cause they’re surrounded by stuffing. It makes it sound like a rattle, we put about 5 in there. Ella & I had a long discussion on the pros & cons of bell inclusion. She decided it was a good idea. Sometimes I think she just wants to have long discussions…)
I know, it’s a little sad looking. And his head is really really floppy. But considering these were the plans we went off of, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out (note where Ella helped with color plans by indicating where it should be pink):
And considering this was a 3-Sunday-project, I don’t think we’ll be making any more stuffed animals any time soon…
