Daily Sketching - March 5, 2013

March 5, 2013
Quite pleased with my feathered friend of the day. Wonder what her story is….

Daily Sketching - March 4, 2013

March 4, 2013
Missed a couple days, but still wished Ted Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) a belated happy birthday. Sorry, Mr. Geisel. I did not intend to make you look like a less-than-enthusiastic, celebratory, unkempt hobo.

Daily Sketching - March 1, 2013

March 1, 2013
Washing machine problems, which is a big issue when you rely on cloth diapers….

Sketching Day 28

February 28, 2013
Last day of February, planning our spring menu. Thought it could use some illustration. 

I think I'm going to keep sketching daily and see what happens. It is a good exercise for me at least.

Sketching Day 27

February 27, 2013
Nothing really great from me. But I sketched and some days, that is accomplishment enough.

Sketching Day 26

February 26, 2013
Potential character sketches.

Sketching Day 25

February 25, 2013
A little more than a sketch today. A storytime poster for my first March storytime. Created via Arnold Lobel inspiration.

Sketching Day 24

February 24, 2013
Two more recipe sketches. Loving the start of these.

Sketching Day 23

February 23, 2013
Have had an idea for a while to illustrate some favorite recipes. Did some sketching for it and am excited to see how I want to finish the final products.

Sketching Day 22

February 22, 2013
A little lamb came to visit yesterday. I think it belongs to Mary. :)

Sketching Day 21

February 21, 2013
Today's sketching was really more of a finishing. Or restarting, if you will. It's a gift so only portions can be shown now. :)

Sketching Day 20

February 20, 2013
Didn't think I had anything in my head to sketch last night, and then the bugs slowly came. Followed by the creatures, inspired, of course, by Don Madden. I'd say it was a successful night of sketching.

Sketching Day 19

February 19, 2013
My book study yesterday was on being dressed like the flowers of the field. So, flowers it is.

Sketching Day 18

February 18, 2013
I bet it would be incredibly interesting to find out what certain letters are for to people. For example, what do you think of when you say "S is for…."

Sketching Day 17

February 17, 2013
Ah yes, the random things of a Sunday night.

Sketching Day 16

February 16 (sorta), 2013
Well, I technically missed a day finally; but I'm giving myself some grace and counting one I did early on Sunday instead.

Sketching Day 15

February 15, 2013
My puppy. And an imagined pug with my shoes. A good day of sketching I'd say.

Sketching Day 14

February 14, 2013
Long day. Little sketches. But aren't they cute!

Sketching Day 13

February 13, 2013
A quiltish pattern.

Sketching Day 12

February 12, 2013  
Bought a new cookbook, so of course I had food on the brain. I really think this kind of sketching is where I excel.

Sketching Day 11

February 11, 2013
Some characters are getting ready for Valentine's Day.

Sketching Day 10

February 10, 2013
A few odd characters.

Sketching Day 9

 I have not forgotten to sketch, just haven't been able to scan them in. Here are the last few days.

February 9, 2013
Some more lettering. That last one is for you Dani. :)

Sketching Day 8

February 8, 2013
Although we don't have snow here, I've been thinking fondly about winter and my sketches went that way too. These are some of my favorites.

Also, I found this little gem in my sketchbook from a month or so ago and couldn't resist throwing it into the wintery mix page.
 

Sketching Day 7

February 7, 2013
A long and rough day, I decided to just work on some lettering and focus on something that's true.

Sketching Day 6

February 6, 2013
It was an odd day of sketching. I had read a lot of picture books about animals so I'm guessing that's why my brain immediately went to birds and crocodiles. And then, late last night I started drawing this little old woman. Next I wondered what her husband would look like, and her house… and that's where this odd little drawing came from. I like it. Very different for me, but I really want to know more about them and their quaint little home.

Sketching Day 5

February 5, 2013
I love to create icons. A bit obsessive about them really.

sketch to card

My little elephant sketch and birthday lettering from day 2 has now become a lovely little card for one of my dearest friend's little girl.

I am so thrilled about how it turned out. I scanned in all the separate parts, cleaned them up a bit in PhotoShop, decided on a layout and then I painted them in PhotoShop as well. I realized after that it would have been way faster to use real watercolors and paint by hand, since I'm so much more comfortable with a real brush than virtual ones. But it was a fun and good experience and something I'll probably dabble more with here and there. To complete the watercolor painted look, I cut some watercolor paper to size and printed the finished design directly onto it. Love the result! The texture and weight of the paper is perfect and the card looks stunning in person.

Hope the little birthday girl (and her parents!) love it!

Sketching Day 4

February 4, 2013
Some quick, but sweet sketches of my little one. First time I've ever tried to draw her.

Sketching Day 3

February 3, 2013
Just barely got any sketching in with a full day yesterday. Practiced some lettering though. Rough, but I got it in. Had to have a football of course being it was the SuperBowl. :)

Sketching Day 2

February 2, 2013

Really inspired and enjoying myself. Drawn some from vintage children's cards. Working on a birthday card for a friend's kid. Bottom right kid copied directly from lovetoillustrate.blogspot.com. I take no credit for that cutie.

Sketching day 1

February 1, 2013
Inspired by Don Madden characters.

28 Days of Sketching

A new project for myself. Hoping for habit-formation, inspiration, improvement, and whatever else occurs.

As we head into the new year, if you've been missing my voice here; you can find me over at Three Books a Night. That's right, my new blog is up! This is the place for all things children's book related. I finally have an outlet for my obsessive passion about children's picture books and you can bet I won't run out of content anytime soon. I'll be back here eventually with more illustration and design inspiration and work once I feel settled in a bit more. Hope to see you there!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

yes, this is an update

January 9, 2012

So things never seem to turn out like we expect. What is that saying "the best laid plans…?" Nevertheless, after receiving a few comments and questions regarding the goals in my last post (from November) I realized I needed to make an update. Things are still in the works, just at a slower pace. And the above illustration is why. I'm still working on my illustration style, the above illustration being a great example of what I'm trying out, but as today is my "best guess date" for our first child's arrival – things illustration/blog/and business-wise have been on hold. I knew I was pregnant when I made that post in November, but I was coming off the first trimester crud and was a lot more ambitious about where I could have things before little one made the debut.

As for the illustration, (which I promised every post would have from now on so at least I'm keeping that goal!), I created that back in January and intended to make a New Year's card out of it, and then a Valentine's Day card, and then we gave up. It just never came together. But I still love it. It will get used somewhere. It's really the first time I've ever done an illustration that really felt like my style. It makes me excited to look at and think about what I can do next. I have filled out a few more pages of my sketchbook as well, but nothing as finished as this and so I'm waiting til I can focus a little more heartily on it.

Now, with the little one coming any day, I'm not making any promises. But, I will be back, and I guarantee that this blog is not going to become baby-zone and neither will I. That's not me and it doesn't fit the passionate goals I have created for myself and this space either. I'm sure there will be an illustration here and there of the little one, which I'm super excited about illustrating, but I still have ideas swirling that need to get out as well. So stay tuned. It's still coming. It's just one of those extra-long, it will be worth it when it does come kind of things.