Owl Be There For You

I'm soaring along sketching out my next book published by Dunrobin Publishing. This is a debut children's book by author Jason Todd. I think we are going to see a lot more of his work in the future!
His writing is light, flowing and although the text is not written in a rhyme there seems to be a rhythm to his work. Phrases like, "He scampered and skipped and fluttered and flew..." dance across the page to a silent drum beat.
Refreshing and insightful you won't want to miss H-Hoo's There? set for release late summer 2013.

Here is a sneak peek of Caleb the main character. Can you tell what type of owl he is?

Owl Just Start Here...

Working on really getting the style of illustration I want.
Not what-
Looks good enough.
or
How I think others want it to look.

-but really looking at my art and making it look like the style in my head. (Yes, there is something going on in there.)

When I worked traditionally I used watercolor crayons. I loved the fluid, transparent, and somewhat messy look. So that's what I'm going for. There are many great tutorials out there on the web that can teach you how to get textures and such to accomplish your goals. Many are free or minimal!

Illustrators that inspire me include Helen Craig, Wendy Anderson Halperin, Paige Keiser and just recently Brooke Boynton Hughes.

Since my critique with Will Terry I've decided to really work on making my digital look like my traditional or at least until I was happy with it.

To the right is a small quick illo. of an owl for an upcoming children's book I will be working on. I'll be changing many things and truthfully by the time I'm finished it will look a bit different but hey it's a first draft!

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. - Abraham Lincoln

Who Me? Valentine

Here is an illustration I did for my daughter's Valentines this year. As many of you know I absolutely LOVE birds. And of course there is our friend Snaid the snail.
My idea is that we will buy dum dum suckers and punch a hole just above Snaid. Then insert the sucker to make it look like he is holding it (some how). On the sucker will be a circle punch with the words, "Happy Valentine's Day" pasted to the front. Or maybe I should make a paper flag coming from the stem of the sucker with the words?! No... then it will look like he is calling the owl a dum dum. I'll go with the first idea. Thoughts?????

IF- Wrapped aka Lucy and Mr. Tumnus Meet

"He was a faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels." ...

We are really into Narnia right now at our house. We are listening to the entire series on CD and of course watching the movies. Mr. Tumnus is a personal favorite. He is so sweet to Lucy. as they say in the book it was, from their first meeting, "as if they had known one another all their lives."

The squirel and his boy

I had a lot of fun making this scene. I have noticed that I lack scenes in my illustrations. And so with that I made one. I wanted there to be many things to see. I also wanted simplicity, another thing I have trouble with. So here is the outcome of things to work on. For a while I believe my illustrations will work on these points. May you enjoy my adventures in illustrations.

Over the River...

So I think I might start a series of illustration type works. I took a bunch of photographs around town and I'll mix them with my illustrations. The works will be called Enchanted St. Louis. Let me know what you think.
This first work is called, "Over the River". I took the photo at my favorite park, mixed it with my an illustration of an owl, and then had fun in photoshop! I think I'll name this reoccurring owl character Octavius. ... Unless you have a better name?