T-Rex Commission Finished!

Hullooo!

Today I finally completed the T-Rex painting I had been commissioned for by my aunt and uncle. They really liked my original T-Rex (found below) and hired me to paint one for a baby gift!

The baby's room is light blue, with red and orange accents, so I wanted this piece to have a lot of color and warmth. I chose to work with acrylic and caran d'ache crayons, however I struggled for a long time how to work out my lines in this style, so I had put the painting away for a bit while I thought about it.

Anyhow, successful or not, this is how I solved my problem:

I'm pretty pleased with the results, and it's one of those pictures that make me happy, so that's a plus! It's neat to see my style change, but it still looks like my own art. My only drawback is that I'm still undecided whether to include the "Rex + Tree" carving in the bark. I feel almost as if it's a tad too much, but I'll see what my artist friends think!

Thanks for reading! It's super rainy out today, and I have to go run errands in it! Yuck! :P
See you soon!

Children's Book Illustration 3: Project 1, Part 2

Greetings, Creative Peoples!

Here is the second installment on the process of our first project for Children's Book Illustration III. This week, we narrowed down our choices for the final spread and did value and color studies. And mixed colors! Woo! Our final goal for this project is to have the following:
1) Three double-page spread sketches from our storyboard.
2) A page of consistent character art, depicting three different action poses, and three different emotions. Color.
3) A finished portfolio-ready piece of art, single page OR double page spread.
4) Do it all in a style and/or medium that we are working to perfect.

I went back through my storyboard and picked some pages to draw a bit clearer and less sketchy:

And then I drew an angry little girl to fulfill the requirement for three emotions:

I've decided to work on a style I've be tweaking here and there, and I really love playing with the colors. It's done in acrylic paint, lots of glazed layers using matte medium, and also involves caran d'ache crayons. I was inspired by the following illustrator's styles:
Judy Schachner, for her use of texture
Mike Wohnoutka, for his cutesy style and use of color
Kelly Murphy, a mixture of textures and bold use of color
Mark Teague, for his clean but cute look
John Rocco, for his textures
Dan Santat, Dani Jones, Will Terry, Megumi Lemons....all very awesome illustrators

And here are some of the pieces I've done in the past as I whittle down on my process:

still have to figure out how to polish the line work on this one...

I like how I handled the line here in this
SECRET image from Project #2!

I was undecided whether I should use a warm or cool under painting, because I wanted the painting to feel wintry cold but also have a bit of electricity to it. So I stuck with the warm colors, because I used a warm brown for the lines. (Also, here's a little lesson on composition from Dan Santat: click here!)

Finally I figured it all out, did my color comps and value study, and found my color palette:

And here is my final piece in its work-in-progress state:

Thanks for visiting! I'll post the rest of the process when I'm done! :)

Back to School Again!

Last night I started RISD CE's Children's Book Illustration III class, taught by the published children's book artist Emilie Boon. (Love her work!) It's great to be back in class, surrounded by my friends and people who love books and art as much as I do!

The class will be broken up into three parts, with a new finished product due at the end of each part. Part I consists of creating child characters, Part II will focus on animal character design, and Part III focuses on storyboarding. As we move along through the course, each student will be honing in on their chosen medium and style and playing up to their strengths, so that we'll each have a more consistent look in our portfolios.

Speaking of style- Emilie shared with us a tidbit on finding one's own style from Dan Santat's blog. (Love his work, too!) Very nice little piece, and it reminds me a lot of what I'm going through. Trying new things, doing stuff because I like doing it (probably more than I like how it looks), and overall playing to my strengths and doing things the way I want to do them. It's okay to be in love with another artist's art... attempt making it for yourself... and then realizing "that's just not the way I work!"

In other news, I am working out a contract/price for my soon-to-be client! Woo hoo! Let's hope we can find a happy medium between the two of us, because if we do, I'm estimating by Spring of 2012 I'll be a freshly published illustrator!

Time to get some homework done, so see you later! :)

Boo to You!

"Hebert felt positively spooky in his ghost costume."
watercolor, acrylic gauache, watercolor pencil
© 2010 Melanie Linden Chan

In my search for my true-love-of-techniques, I played around with some acrylic gauache. Acrylic gauache is nice because the pigment is more saturated than watercolor, but it can be applied just like watercolor, and once it dries the paint cannot lift off the paper, just like regular acrylics. This was my first try, and as usual I got grumpy from my lack of talent in rendering tiny details with a paintbrush. So I whipped out my long-forgotten watercolor pencils, and behold! I may have found what I've been looking for: a way to paint texturally and keep things nice and tight. When I was about finished, I topped it all off with some caran d'ache textural scribbles for good measure.

FYI, this is also an Illustration Friday topic: spooky. "Hebert felt positively spooky in his ghost costume."

Library Run: Judith Byron Schachner

In my search for new techniques to try, I had purchased "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road," a conglomerate of art by different illustrators, and there I ran into the creator of little Skippyjon Jones: Judith Byron Schachner. I LOVE the textures and colors she uses in the Skippy books, so I borrowed as many books as my library bag could handle!

Artist/Author: Judith Byron Schachner

Medium: Acrylic, watercolor, ink, sometimes pencil accents

Website: http://www.judithbyronschachner.com/, http://www.skippyjonjones.com/

Books I Borrowed: "The Prince of the Pond," "Jimmy the Pickpocket of the Palace," (both by Donna Jo Napoli); "Staying with Grandmother," by Barbara Baker; "What Shall I Dream?," by Laura McGee Kvasnosky; "How the Cat Swallowed Thunder," by Lloyd Alexander; "Mrs. Emerson's Cook," "The Grannyman," "Willy and May,"  "YO Vikings!," and a bunch of Skippyjon Jones books.

My Thoughts: I put the books on the floor in chronological order, and thought it was really neat to watch Judy's style change and develop over the years. She began illustrating in a sort of Trina Schart Hyman-ey sort of way, then some of her characters' faces had the Steven Kellogg look, and then she seemed to have found her calling in the world of color through "What Shall I Dream?" and "How the Cat Swallowed Thunder," and "Yo Vikings!" all of which are quite colorfully complex yet not messy or cluttered. And then, then, she found her favorite style to illustrate in the Skippyjon Jones series.

My favorites? Absolutely "What Shall I Dream?," and "How the Cat Swallowed Thunder." Could not stop looking at them, and didn't want to return them. So I found them online and now I have my own copies! My favorite Skippyjon Jones book: "Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones." LOVE her dinosaurs, especially the T-Rex!

What have I learned from this? That it takes years and multiple stories to actually truly find what makes your heart sing. I can tell that she's a bit like me- she can draw well, is great with linework in pen and ink, but has a wacky stylistic side to her she wasn't so sure how to contain at first. I could go all day just doodling things and painting, but not actually come up with  a "masterpiece" per say. The stuff I work on without actually thinking about it ends up being my favorite kind, and it looks great! But how do I harness that sort of mindlesslazyfun look while still being serious about my art? How do I paint within the lines, but still feel like I'm coloring outside of them? It goes along with the way I work- if I don't follow my own schedule, then I'm happy. If I feel like I'm getting away with something mischievous, then I get great results. But if I don't pressure myself into getting anything done, I won't! How does one schedule fun?

And it goes to show that Skippyjon also does not like to follow rules... No matter how many times I've rotated that image (both on the pc and in Blogger), it refuses to face the correct way!

Library Run: Anna Dewdney & Leslie Patricelli

It's time I've begun to do some more library runs! In order for me to learn more about children's books, I need to read more children's books. So from now on, I will be regularly posting my finds as "Library Runs," where I will tell you what I've learned and what I like about each book. Yes, I know the title makes you giggle...

Keep in mind that these Library Runs are not book reviews- I haven't the slightest clue what I'm talking about, professionally. These are just mere musings from a person who loves looking at pictures and reading silly stories, and wishes she could do it all day long!

My first batch of books consist of stories illustrated by, (and most of them written by), artists Anna Dewdney and Leslie Patricelli. Let us begin...

Artist/Author: Leslie Patricelli

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Website: http://www.lesliepatricelli.com/

Books I Borrowed: "Big, Small," "The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day," and "The Patterson Puppies and the Midnight Monster Party." I am also quite fond of "Higher, Higher," "The Birthday Box," and "No No, Yes Yes."

My Thoughts: I really enjoy Leslie's cute and simple style. It reminds me a lot of how I draw things when I'm in that kind of mood. I enjoy her bright colors and the scuffed paint texture that comes from painting on canvas. At the end of "Big, Little," there are two pages that show a bunch of big and little things. My favorite? The Binkie! Her Patterson Puppies are also super sweet. Each one has its own personality, likes and dislikes, and it is evident which puppy is which throughout both stories. It gives kids a chance to identify themselves with one of the characters, and therefore helps them to learn from the puppies' silly mistakes (such as making a puddle in the livingroom!). My little 18 month nephew loves her books, too.

Artist/Author: Anna Dewdney

Medium: I cannot say for sure, because it isn't written anywhere that I can see, but I'm fairly certain she paints with acrylics on canvas.

Website: http://www.annadewdney.com/Annas_website/Home.html

Books I Borrowed: "Llama, Llama, Red Pajama," "Llama, Llama, Mad at Mama," "Grumpy Gloria," "Little Pangolin," "What You Do Is Easy, What I Do Is Hard"

My Thoughts: I have been dying to read Llama Llama Red Pajama for ages now, and I'm so glad I finally did! The story rhymes in a fun way, and I find the words feel nice the way they roll off my tongue. The sentences in all her most recent books are short and quick, and the stories deals with topics that toddlers can relate to. I have always been drawn to Anna's art from her book covers, but looking at them more closely makes me like the painterly quality even more. It makes me want to pick up a paintbrush and do some of my own! I noticed that most of her characters are the same brownish-tan color, and they all have the same eyes, yet each character stands on its own. It's a good way for her to keep her work looking familiar, so people can say "Oh that one MUST be by Anna." I also like her use of color- the moods are captured and the action feels real. Like 'em a lot!

At Last...

...my studio is complete!

All it's missing now is that homey, lived-in look, (and a giant cork board on the wall) but I'm sure it will get there quite soon. I'm so fond of it, I took pictures! Let us gaze upon the loveliness...

 

While cleaning and collecting all of my art supplies that have been dispersed around the house over the past few years, I have learned a few things:

1. I am the Queen of Post-Its. *see proof at the bottom of this post

2. I actually DO have enough rulers and straight edges. It always seems like I only have one, and I can never find it. Apparently these things like to hide in weird places.

3. Finally putting together my studio is the BEST thing I could have done for myself. Seriously, I love it.

Since its completion, I have already spent a few creative hours in my new studio space. I'm trying out some new techniques to see what works best for me and my drawing style. Today I took page out of Judy Schachner's book and tooled around with the technique she uses to illustrate her Skippyjon Jones stories. I LOVE the textures she achieves using acrylics on watercolor paper, and the way she layers her vivid colors like so:

Spread from "Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones," by Judy Schachner

I figured it would save me some time to work with an image I already had lying around, so I tried out this new look on my little logo. I outlined with black Prismacolor pencil, and added a few touches with some Caran d'ache water soluble crayons. Not bad, but it seems to be missing something:

I'm also going to play around with this pelican that I drew a while back, and see how that goes.  I outlined him in pen and ink, which I find to be very satisfying...much more so than a black pencil. I guess I'm not into colored pencils that much right now.

And, since I've achieved the goal of making my little creative space, it makes sense to attempt yet another goal:

Get on a Schedule! 

I've got a log sheet on my door so I can write in the times I work, and I will also set aside working time from 10 am until 2 pm, four days a week. That's sixteen hours each week I will be devoting my time to illustrating.

Sounds like Awesome-ness to me!

told ya so...

Finally... all three projects from CBook2 are FINISHED!

I told you they would all be due today, didn't I?

Let's start with our folktale project, the story of Sigo the boy who lived with the bears...

Left side of the double-page spread...

Right side of the double-page spread!

Both pieces of art were wood-burned on (scrap) pine, scanned and then put into Photoshop to do the page layout.  I tried to make the words look like they were "burned in" too!

Here are the final double-page spreads for Mother Nature.  I've included the text, though it is copyrighted to the author, but this is for educational and learning purposes, and I hereby do not take any credit whatsoever for the text.  I find it an important part of the process, because the assignment was to work around the original text layout, versus coming up with one like we did with Mooin. (Should anyone find this to be problematic, contact me and I will remedy it immediately.)

In case you forgot, these were done in ink and watercolor on pre-stretched Arches 140lb hot press paper.

As for our collage project, my "Song of Spring" poem has yet to be actually merged with the art in proper layout form.  I still haven't had the time to re-learn how to do a text path.  Yeah, I know it's one of those silly easy things, but hey I've been busy!  Also, it needs to be re-scanned because I've got a seam in the middle, where the gutter usually is.  Here it is anyhow, so we can see the whole body of work together in one blog post.

Once again, this was done by painting old Chinese and English newspapers with non-toxic acrylics, cut and pasted with Matte Medium, with a few finishing touches done in either acrylic or colored pencil. I almost feel like it needs some little blossoms in the tree... but I'm going to wait and see what it looks like with the words before I do anything else to it.

All in all, a very satisfying semester! Four finished double-page spreads, a finished picture book manuscript, and a cover letter.  I don't think I could of asked for more, especially in a three month period!

Now... What's next???

More Talk on Style

Monday night was the last night before our last night of class. Which means next Monday is the night where everything we've worked on all semester must be complete, final, and perfect! Not only that, but we will also be looking for secret messages in our work that tell us each what our style looks like, and what it's all about.

I think I'm slowly starting to get a few clues to what my style is...what really drives me.  Cheryl said that anything that makes you insanely happy, (before, during, and after) is a good way to go, since picture books  have a lot of art in them, and we will be so very tired of the book by the time we finish drawing it.  Thinking back over the years at the projects that I loved doing the most, there are some things about them that are very similar.  Cheryl noticed during our crit that I have a tendency to draw a particular way, and it showed up in "Mother Nature" and "Mooin," and I realize now in a lot of other things I've done as well.

But I think I'm going to wait to reveal what that style actually is...mostly because I don't have all the photos I need to show you at my current location.  But I will.  (If you want a hint, though...when it finally came down to the implementation of my ideas for "Mooin," I really enjoyed the technique!)

Anyhow, we talked a lot about style in class, and looked at a bunch of amazing books from our Bookshare table.  There were two books in particular that showed a lot of different styles all within the same story!  The first one won a Caldecott Medal!

 

"Black and White" by David Macauley  

"Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?" by an assortment of artists!

Both books were very useful to demonstrate different styles, looks and techniques that an illustrator may use when creating a picture book.  Also mentioned was the artist David Shannon, who has multiple styles in which he works. Some of my favorites: 

"The Ballad of the Pirate Queens," by Jane Yolen

"No, David!"

"How I Became A Pirate," by Melinda Long

"Duck on a Bike," by David Shannon

There will be many more talks on style, versatility and technique as time goes on.  That's the topic we talk most about in my classes, because it is the thing that makes you different from everyone else, the thing that makes you stand out... and the thing that could potentially get you a Caldecott Medal!

Did I ever tell you that was one of my life goals? Yep, I'm going to get a Caldecott Medal if it's the last thing I do!  It probably will be the last thing I do...I've got a LOT of improving to do.

From Start to Finish - Mooin, The Bear's Child, Part 3

(Note: I realized that I hadn't actually posted my last blog post when I created it, so it looks like I posted twice in a row...I swear I didn't mean to!)

Critiques are life savers.  Yes, they're a royal pain in the patootie, and man can they draaaaaag!  But without some of the crits of art-classes-past, and the one on Monday, many of my pieces would have turned out entirely differently.

For example, during the last crit, a very smart and insightful person brought up that most of my stuff is super colorful.  Like straight-from-the-tube colorful.  And I've been trying extremely hard to stay away from that, because I tend to yield better results when I do.  My problem is that I wasn't brought up to use neutral colors, or rather, no one seemed to point out that I didn't mix my own colors. That explains why I have such a problem deciding which colors to use in my art, because I don't use a limited palette.  If the whole wide world is available, why not just use them all?

So I am very thankful to my dear friend for bringing that point up, and reminding me that I'm an artist, and not a toddler with a 280-count box of Crayolas, (or whatever number they are up to now)! Those days were much simpler, though.

Well I'm done blathering about that.  Here's what I've been up to in the past few days...

New composition and style to my design!

My wood-burning friend, the tool I'm using for my line work.
(I wear a mask and turn on the kitchen hood fan for proper ventilation when burning the wood.)

Left side of my double-page spread.

Right side of my double-page spread.

New & Improved! color palette, using 3 primary colors, white, and one brown.

Not done yet... but I'm liking the results!  Thank goodness for the color changes!

This project, as well as "Mother Nature" and "Song of Spring," will be completely finished by Monday, and all three will be scanned and posted here on my blog most likely a day or two after that.  I'm so glad to have some nicer pieces to put into my portfolio! Can't wait to have it all done!!

From Start to Finish - Mooin, The Bear's Child, Part 2

It's color study time!


Although I'm still working on (and constantly thinking about) my final composition, a color study is still a helpful exercise to do.  (Plus, it's due this Monday in CBookII.)  After much deliberation, I have decided to go with my first idea of painting on pine wood, with burned-in accents. 


When I told him this, my husband asked me, "If one of your problems is that you haven't stuck to a certain style, why are you trying this new style on a new project?"  That is a valid point, but I told him what I'm going to tell you now:  If I don't experiment enough with different techniques, how will I know which I love the most?

Also, I have already done a project using this techniques, and I really enjoyed it.  This is a part of said project:

I did quite a bit of research and messing around to figure out the kind of look I was going for, and came up with this rainbow of colors:

(These are my happy acrylic paints.  I use the student grade stuff for now.)

And my color comp:

Let's see what teacher thinks in class!

Style or Versatile?

Lately I've been really thinking about my art style, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't really have one!  It really depends on the project I'm working on, what the customer/teacher is looking for, and the theme of the book/image.  When I work with watercolors, my art tends to look one way, but when I work with acrylic or collage, it looks another way.  I like to think of myself as being very versatile, because no matter what medium I choose to work with, or what problem is set before me, I can always come up with a finished piece that I can be proud of. 

My style or look can range from this:

Kirkland's Warbler studies and final piece in pencil, ink and watercolor

To this:

  
Gauache Baby Girl and Birthday Boy (this was actually my first try...maybe not a good example of gauache!  But the cartoony look is right on.)

 

I brought this topic up in class, and my teacher confessed that not only do many artists have the same problem- but she and her colleagues have also been discussing it lately!  They have come to the conclusion that for an up-and-coming artist such as myself, being consistent with a style or look will help me land a job better.  That way, when I send out my quarterly postcards with sample art to art directors, my style will pop into their heads for a story.  

That's all well and good, but I don't know what I want to do! I really love it all!  I guess it will just take me some time to get a better feel for what I like doing a lot, and what I like doing the least. 

But in the meantime, here's a story about an artist who's got multiple styles pretty down pat: http://pbjunkies.blogspot.com/2010/05/speaking-of-styles-melanie-watt.html  See more of her books on her Amazon Page!