Illustration Friday - Focused

{Oil on Board, 2010}

You gotta be pretty focused to wrangle a wild horse! I finally finished this illustration. I did most of the finishing work yesterday and the day before. I never love things when I first finish them, but now that its done, I'm sure it will start to grow on me.

Illustration Friday - Clumsy

{Graphite and Digital, 2010}

I whipped up this little mouse in my sketchbook this morning and then colored it in Photoshop. A word to the wise: Clumsy mice shouldn't carry stacks of teacups and saucers... and they certainly shouldn't run with them!

Plush for 2010

{Duck and Raccoon, 2010}

{Blue Whale, 2010}

{Buffalo, 2010}

These are a few of my favorite products from the 2010 line of Toy Network plush. I did the drawing and design for these almost a year ago, but its always exciting to see what the pattern makers in China come up with. These ones look very close to my designs and I am happy with the results!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

{Watercolor and Pencil, 2010}

January has been full of anticipation! I have several projects in the works and am getting geared up for a very busy February. It seems that every year gets a little busier and feels a little more successful for me. I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I feel like I am climbing towards a better career as an illustrator. I hope everyone else's 2010 is shaping up to be a success as well!

Still Rockin'

{Oil on Board, 2010}

Just another post showing the most recent progress on this piece. Now that I have most things worked out in terms of color, it is time to tidy it up and start shaping things up with the paint! I also darkened several areas so that I can bring out the lights again. It is hard for me to work from a stark white (or light) background, so sometimes I just have to re-neutralize things and go from there.

Illustration Friday - Confined

{Graphite, 2010}

Fireflies confined in a jar, as their flying buddies come to see what has happened! Personally, I have never caught a firefly in a jar, but the idea always seemed romantic! (Probably not if you are the firefly!) We live across the street from a park though. In the summer they fly around the trees and it is wonderful to walk amongst them as they buzz around your head. Just dreaming of summer I suppose...

Three Works in Progress

{Oil on Board, 2010}

{Oil on Board, 2010}

{Oil on Board, 2010}

I have three main illustration paintings going on in my studio right now. These are all photographs of where they are currently at. I need to get the rocking horse piece done first, and I would like to try to finish the other two by the end of the month. (We will see how that works out!) You can see other shots of the rocking horse piece HERE. You can see the girl walking towards home HERE and HERE, and the barbershop quartet HERE.

A Background for the Rockin' Kid

{Sketch on Tracing Paper, 2010}

I spent most of today's studio time working on a background for this illustration. Tomorrow I will get it transferred onto some illustration board and start painting it. I'm still trying to figure out what type of colors to use on a few parts, but at least with oil, if I don't like something I can just cover it up with another color! On a completely different note, it is SO weird to be writing 2010 on checks, illustrations and other paperwork! Two numbers changed in the year instead of the usual one number change. It is much harder to fudge 2009 into 2010 in handwriting than it was when I was adjusting to 2009 from 2008! Oh well, life moves much faster than I can ever get used to... so I just move at my own pace anyways!

Rockin' Cowkid

{Pencil Sketch, 2010}

This is the sketch for a piece I need to get done relatively quickly. I have a few other oil paintings in progress that I have been steadily working on too... but will have to wait, yet again. I want to do a nice background for this piece tomorrow and work out any kinks in the drawing so I can start painting it!

A New Year

{Sketchbook, 2010}

I love a fresh start. So full of possibilities and hope! Here's to a fabulous 2010!