COMING FROM THE HEART

I don't like rules, and avoid being in a situation that calls for them if at all possible. But it doesn't mean I can't make up my own. 

Rule One: If there's an edgy feeling to something you've just finished, re-think it, stare at it if it's visual, and don't settle. I have a Rule Two, but it's irrelevant to this writing. 

I applied that Rule One yesterday because I felt the original picture needed more POP.... and I don't mean soda. So I decided to give it some pizazz in the hopes that all my efforts would not be a waste of my time

..... here's what I came up with. Anyone disagree?

DOG IS GIRLS BEST FRIEND

One of the great things about being an artist of Chris Tugeau's is all of the opportunities she brings to us to expose our work. For every holiday (how about "Popcorn Day"??!) she asks in advance who would like to do an illustration ... ie, Valentine's Day - to be included in a designed piece that she sends out. I jumped at the chance, and here it is.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY everyone! XOX

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Part of having an artist agent is putting together marketing material for the best exposure. I love my agent, Chris, because of her huge amount of enthusiasm to get things moving! This is the flyer that she'll be sending and giving out to publishing houses. I am so detail oriented that it was a marathon of working until I felt it was right. I started out putting the bottom two illustrations in square boxes, but decided it was too monotonous. The circles they ended up in was to give the effect of looking through binoculars, since the subject matter is so "secretive". Off to the printers - and onto the next project. :o)

You Get the Picture!

With the rush of the Holidays, the crashing of my computer and the first aid of putting it all back together again I've been away from my drawing board for way too long! 

One of the gifts I received to start the new year off with high hopes and excitement is a children's book agent, Chris Tugeau. She's clearly a gift... I would venture to say one of the tops in her field. Talented, warm, experienced, and a real go getter. But I had to earn her interest, and unbeknownst to me she took notice of all the work I've been doing lately and approached me with "Let's give this a try." 

The first thing I had to do was put together a portfolio for her website . Next came designing a flyer for her to distribute to clients as an introduction to my work. She asked that I include something showing kids in the middle school age range with a story in mind. So, I took one of the sketches from an Illustration Friday piece (with the Boundaries theme), and put it to work. See below. Next, a 2nd drawing to coincide with the theme. Stay tuned.

Art for the Holidays

One of the joys of Christmas for me is all of the wonderful scents that come with the season. The crackling of burning wood in the fireplace. The fresh green needles of a Christmas tree. The warm fragrance of burning candles. And last - but certainly not least -  freshly baked desserts smack out of the oven, which was my inspiration for this Holiday picture. Did I mention that baking homemade apple pies is my newest feat? And what are homemade goodies without the big- eyed pleading looks of sweet-toothed children (& their pets)?!

Illustration Friday: STRIPES

I love incorporating patterns into my illustrations! Polka dots, stripes, and plaids have been sort of a trademark of my work. A few years ago I wrote and illustrated a children's picture book, and went pretty wild on the wardrobe patterns of the characters. When I sent it proudly to an agent friend of mine to critique she pointed out to me that because of all these details it was too busy, and therefore difficult to focus on. After looking at it with fresh eyes I saw what she was talking about. I ended up ditching some of the characters, and toning down the dress. Here are the before and after illustrations. . . as you can see, I took out some, but gave the main character his stripes! There's something about those lines that I just can't resist....

Before

After

SCARY: Illustration Friday

I didn't have the time to do more than a line pencil drawing for the assigned word this week, so this is it. The idea popped into my mind after helping my daughter, Katy, to decorate her house this Halloween. She has some very scary animated witches and ghosts - topped off by the towering Grim Reaper, and she put them ALL around. I was surprised when I witnessed her 15 month old baby girl giggle when she got close to any of them! .... versus my grandsons, who ran screaming for shelter when they were her age! "I don't want Delaney to be afraid of them, so I make it like they're funny when they do their scary thing." she explained..... and it worked! So, the idea of drawing a tough little fairy princess standing up to the howling ghost sort of captured that scenario for me.

Illustration Friday: SCATTERED

Remember when you were a kid, and the smart alec at the family picnic spit watermelon seeds at you? I do. And there they stuck .... scattered in little heaps of black!

Illustration Friday: CONTRAPTION

For the past 20 years one of my businesses has been designing Daylight Savings Reminder Cards to sell to the hotel industry. This is one of them. . . thought it fit for the word "contraption".

I'd Rather Be Painting

I know one thing, this poor body of mine needs to get some exercise! I've been sitting like a hen on her nest at this computer screen for days on end, maneuvering all the intricate bells and whistles involved in updating my illustration website. Just when I'd think I had it down pat I'd see a glitch! .... and if I didn't see it, then my master critic, Cindy D., whose judgment I call on every time I need another eye, would find it! It's DONE .... and here it is. If anyone sees a flaw don't tell me - cuz I'M done! I can't wait to get back in front of the canvas. 

http://www.susandrawbaugh.com

Illustration Friday: FEROCIOUS

This is an illustration from a picture book that I wrote and illustrated, Pickles & the Poof. Poof is the "ferocious monster" that terrifies everyone .... and makes a hero out of Pickles. What no one realizes until the end is that the "monster" is not so ferocious, after all.

"Peering out through the trees was a monstrous thing,
slowly starting to fly without one single wing!"

A Little Glitter to Make the Wall Art POP!

It's not easy to see the glitter on this small photo, 

but hopefully you get the picture.

 Click on the image to zoom in more.

Once I finished my grandbaby Laney's painting, Say, Say My Playmate, I strategically added glitter here and there to it. WOW!! What a difference it made! To avoid it looking tacky, I was careful not to overdue it, so I just filled in a few select apples, part of the buggy wheels, and a spot on some of the characters' shoes or hair decor. It doesn't show up in this photo nearly as dramatically as it looks in person, but take my word for it it's eye-catching, and sparkles even with just a tidbit of light on in the room.

Illustration Friday: MESMERIZING

This was done originally as a chapter illustration for a book called The Wicked Truth About Love.... the Tangles of Desire. The art direction was to show the dinner guest mesmerized over the chef's girlfriend as the chef delights in the attention his trophy girl is getting. In this case, it's all about the desire to have what other's want. Lots of fun to illustrate!

Illustration Friday: BOUNDARIES

What's more confidential than your innermost private thoughts? When I saw the word BOUNDARIES the first image I had was of a diary. 

I've kept journals since I was 10 years old. I don't want to give away my age, but if I stacked them they'd probably go through the ceiling. They've been my venting outlet, my problem solver, my goal setter, and most of all, my place to reminisce. One day when I was a teenager I saw an entry - not in MY handwriting! Someone .... you know who you are... stepped out of their boundaries.... BIG time! 

A Toad, a Teddy, and a Turtle - Wall Art for Baby's Nursery

Teddy + Toad + Turtle = Tenderness. This was the feeling I was going for a while back when I originally created these characters for an infant bedding company. Scanning actual fabrics into my computer program for the colors was my medium of choice at that time, instead of my usual tools of paints or markers w/colored pencils. This was great for a quilt, but not enough pop for a wall print. So, after my recent decision to focus on creating children's wall art I decided to include these --- but they needed to be recreated. Last week it was back to the drawing table where I went back to using my standard markers & colored pencils and finishing them off with digitally created backgrounds. They're now ready for reproduction... each one to be printed on a 12"x12" canvas, or all three printed side by side on one wide narrow canvas. 

Now, it's back to the easel where my farm animal scene has been put on hold :o).

A New Beginning on a Blank Canvas

I'm on a roll of producing wall art for babies' rooms and loving it! I've been invited by an online gallery to submit some of my work for them to sell, but I originally created and scanned the artwork at too small a resolution for frameable prints, so I need to recreate some of them. This time I'm going from using my usual medium of pen & ink, markers and colored pencils to painting with acrylics. This will be only my second attempt at working with acrylics on canvas (see blog The Writings on the Wall Art to see the first), so I was a bit nervous to start. Once I began it felt great, and, like getting back on a bicycle that hasn't been ridden in awhile, the ride so far has been going very smoothly :o). 

As before, I first traced the large colored printout seen above (which is very pixelated) onto the canvas using graphite paper. The printout is taped onto my art table light for my referral as I paint.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - MYSTERY

This weeks' word on ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY is MYSTERY. 

I figure what's more curious than a cat?! - and since they have 9 lives one would make a perfect main character for a mystery scene. Nine chances to solve the mystery until BANG!!.... it's over.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: the word DISGUISE

This week's word to illustrate is DISGUISE. I just happen to have that topic already covered inside a picture book that I created a few years ago entitled, "Who's in the Room With Molly Muldoon?" ...... a Flip n Giggle™ book of colors & counting.

... FOUR rabbits in PURPLE disguise

THE WRITING'S ON THE WALL ART

My big canvas had a brief home on the wall next to Laney's crib — but more work was left to do — the writing of the verse. Once I had my hands on it I zeroed in on details that I either wanted to change or add to the canvas. Although my daughter, Laney's mom, was getting impatient to have her picture back, she decided it was worth the wait... and we ended up agreeing, after I delicately painted the entire verse of Say, say my playmate in place, that it didn't do the painting justice — distracting and way too busy. So we settled on the main line along the top, and added a personal verse that she says to Laney every day: me and you, you and me — that makes us a we. Love it! All that's left to do is fill in a few of the apples with glue and red glitter. A touch of pizazz to make the painting pop for Laney-loo's wall.

Then it was off to the printer's, where a life size scan was done so that it can be sold in a variety of sizes as a Giclee. What a fantastic job they did!! A small proof was printed out on canvas from that scan and it looks identical to the original!! It's so exciting to find a partner whose work you can rely on! On the drive home I stopped at Aaron Bros. and bought another canvas. Stay tuned .... I'm on a "wall art" roll!

Is a Picture Really Worth 1,000 Words?

I just got turned on to illustrationfriday.com ... what fun!! The motive is for illustrators to create a picture from a word that's given by a member of that group every Friday. This week's word is "Imperfect".

The first thing that came to my mind is my weekly routine of cutting a bouquet of flowers from my garden to bring a little warmth to my kitchen counter. So pretty... so perfectly arranged in its vase, within viewing range of where I make my morning cup of coffee. I'm selective of the flowers that I pick.... brown spots are not allowed. If there's a hint of wilting it won't make the cut. They must be perfect.

Then, invariably, one morning I glance over to find a flower in the bunch that's given in to old age. Limp. Brown. Crinkled leaves. Defeated. . . imperfect. The cycle of life goes on.