creating a picture book dummy

So I have a few things on the go...but everything working toward my picture book. It's such a fun project. I love the idea, the story still needs some tweaking, as do my storyboards, but all in all I'm feeling really excited about the project.


I have just started taking yet another class from my favorite duo - Will Terry and Jake Paker and their amazing School of Visual Storytelling. It's a composition class and has me thinking about thumbnails and compositional sketches and how I may need to tweak the sketches I have already done.

In the first class Jake was talking about how he frst creates boxes the size of his final drawings in Photoshop and then transforms them into small thumbnails of the same proportions to work on as he plays with his ideas. He'll often add text to the bottom of each frame so he has everything all together.

That lead me to think about what the final size of my page should be and I came across this great blog post which to summarized suggested sticking close to an 8x10 page which is most common.

Now in an earlier class,  Jake Parker explained that he works on a 8.5x11 page or  17x11 for a full page spread at 300 dpi. When he shrinks down his thumbnails, they are around 2x4.  Next he enlarges his thumbnails to double the size and does more refined sketches. These are the sketches he would send to the editor in a .pdf at about 150 dpi.

So I'm off to tweak my current thumbnails and work on some larger compositional sketches .

Art books

I love looking and reading through the art books of animated movies - looking at the environmental and character designs, the storyboards etc...But they aren't cheap and not always available at my local library. In case you are a fan too, you may want to check out the Parka blog, where tons of art books are reviewed, with images and a video of the pages being flipped through, so you at least get a glimpse of the book before paying $30-$50.

Take your time - Woulter Tulp

Last week I was listening to a Chris Oatley podcast with illustrator Wouter Tulp. It was the second time I had listened to the podcast and loved it even more. Wouter Tulp had such insightful comments to share. This morning I turned to his blog and read his comments on art and the internet entitled "Take your time". It's a great read. One that no doubt I'll turn to and read a second time.

(Illustration by Wouter Tulp)

loving #kidlitart tweet chats

If you are an illustrator...new or experienced, and you aren't tuning into the #kidlitart tweet chats Thursday evenings at 7MST you are missing out!!

I love the community of illustrators that participates and shares their knowledge and encouragement.

A couple weeks ago as we were discussing character design, three fantastic websites were shared that I need to post here so I can keep track of them....

First - the Living Lines Library, filled with sketches of characters we all love and the quality of design we'd all like to be able to produce.

Next, Figure and Gesture Drawing, a website full of reference for facial expressions and gestures.

And lastly, an article about Photoshop Etiquette which I am sure I need to read.

Lastly, if you want to check out the tweet chat transcript on character design, you can find it here.

Enjoy!

postcard boost

Tonight during our weekly tweet chat for #kidlitart we have been assigned to post a mock-up of a postcard promo - such a great idea!  So here is my submission for tonight's crit.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's designs!

setting realistic goals to improve as an illustrator

My husband is not into 'New Year's Resolutions', but I LOVE them! I love evaluating the past year, what I accomplished, what I wished I had accomplished but didn't, and I really love thinking about the upcoming year and what I can tweak to become better....in all facets of life. But this year I have some lofty goals to take me further down this road of illustration.


Tonight I came across this great post on "Once Upon a Sketch" where Jennifer Zivoin shares some GREAT wisdom on setting realistic goals as we seek to improve both our abilities and our business.

getting back into the groove

I have been a real slacker on my blog this month...well I can't honestly say I've ever been very consistent. But I was listening to an interview yesterday on CBC where it was said that consistent writing makes you a far better communicator in general, and I could use some help!  At 42 I'm feeling like dementia is setting in already - words constantly escape me. Some say it's just mother's brain, and I hope they are right!!  But perhaps writing will help too.

I continue to find great little tidbits online that would be so helpful to go back to regularly as I educate myself in writing and illustration. This morning my surfing lead me to Brian Lies' blog where he focuses on sharing his characters and his process...really neat work!!

Merry Christmas

a snowy standoff

flour sacks

Lately I have been seeing a number of animated flour sacks - an exercise in learning to create movement and emotion in a character. This is something that I struggle with, so tonight I did a little searching for some inspiration and images of what to work toward.

There is a great collection of images and videos posted by Stuart Lees Tait here.




And from other blogs...

Scribble Junkies

" It really is an effective thing to practice drawing with. The bag of flour exudes weight, shape, volume, and even texture! (I told my students to add stitching in the front to further help in defining the form), but is also a very simple shape which anyone can draw." - from Scribble Junkies

Animator Island

DeviantArt - heylorlass

Just found a link to this very informative blog post on the origins of the flour sack exercise and what it's real purpose was - a very interesting must read! Here's a small quote from it:
"So the primary reason for the half-filled flour sack is as a simplified learning platform for understanding natural deformations in movement and dealing with the inherent limitations. The additional imparting of character, personality and emotions to the flour sack is a secondary part of the exercise that evolved later. All too often animation students are introduced to this exercise as a lesson in learning to develop and show character and emotions in a simple object and don’t truly understand the primary value of the exercise. The poor misunderstood little flour sack gets a quick pass as a simple and pathetic little character and is often overlooked as a real training ground for understanding forces, deformation, and fundamental organic movement." 
Read the rest of the post here.