just for fun

After reading Helga and Amy's comments on my last entry I thought it might be fun to post the original 'auntie' character sketch I drew two years ago, so here it is, which one do you prefer?...The new chic Victoria Beckham-ish version or the 'wild and whimsical' hippie-like version??

...I'm thinking now something a little in-between the two.

Step 3 - Character Development

We are getting deep into the #PBDummy challenge at Kidlitart, just finishing the third step, two weeks of working on our characters. It has been a fun experience, but a real challenge for me. I have had an advantage in that I have been thinking of these characters for a few years, and some of the characters are based on people I know - it's their experience the story is based on. So the mom and the aunt were relatively easy....although the aunt is perhaps looking a little too chic with those sunglasses - in the story she has been described as being 'wild and whimsical'.

My main challenges are - drawing the character so they look like themselves sketch after sketch, and drawing in a consistent style - I bounce back and forth between drawing realistic characters and more cartoony characters.  Although our character development phase is over I am going to have to revisit a few of these characters for that reason. The little boy and the mice seem more cartoony than the mom and the aunt - which probably won't match up very well. For now, I'll leave them as they are.

If you have any feedback on how I can improve these characters, please leave your feedback in the comments.

On to step four - storyboarding!

maximizing your online presence

I just finished reading a great article from theabundantartist about maximizing ones online presence. I am not at a point where I am ready to start marketing myself, but when that time comes it certainly makes sense that I not only need a blog but a website as well where I can display my portfolio, contact info etc...This article speaks to the need to have both ones blog and ones website linked together to ensure that your web traffic is directed to both sites. There are also links to tutorials on how to merge your current blog with a website. Great info to reference when the time comes!

Lately I have also been overwhelmed with social media. It can be so time consuming to keep up with it all!! Below are some great articles that can help maximize ones online presence while at the same time cut the amount of time spent maintain ones blog, twitter, facebook, linkedin accounts, etc...

from the Abundant Artist  ("How to use social media and still have a life") who then links to an article entitled:" Streamlining your social Web presence in six steps", "Free services to streamline your social networking experience", and "It's about time: 5 tools to streamline your social media". Tools like twitterfeed, igoogle and using google alerts are suggested.

My first award!

Last week I was surprised to find my blog was awarded - the Liebster Award, granted me by Kerie Miller at illustration junky. Kerie is an illustrator and an online classmate of mine. It was a thrill and honor to receive this little award, so thank you Kerie. Now I knew very little about this award and what it represents so I had to do a little digging and discovered that it's an award for 'up and coming' blogs that have less than 200 followers. (I certainly fit the second qualification and hope to live up to the first).

As part of the tradition of this award I apparently need to share 5 things about myself and pass the award on to 5 blogs fitting the criteria.

As far as 5 things about me...I am a land-locked girl who loves the ocean (married to a dear man who has a phobia of large bodies of water)...I love to run with my girlfriends that way I have weekly guilt-free social time...I speak three languages, one being Chuukese - officially an "unwritten language" which, living in Western Canada has surprisingly never come in handy....I am trying to be healthy but chocolate is my nemesis...I am happiest when I am outside either sketching or participating in an activity with my family.

And now I officially pass on the honor of the Liebster Blog Award to:

Helga Pearson
Sylvia Liu
Jaqueline Hudon-Verrelli
Lynne and Melissa 
Ken Teghtmeyer

(Now honestly I can't tell how many followers some of these blogs have, for some blogs it's not obvious and if you are over 200 followers my apologizes but these blogs are deserving of recognition!)

Photoshop Tutorials

I have come across a couple sites that provide free tutorials in Photoshop that look intriguing, something I'm going to have to sit down and go through one day.


Kim Klassen Cafe
ctrl+Paint

Thanks to those who are so generous on the web, sharing their skills and knowledge.