Helllp! Perspective!

I'm working now on the next book under contract with Boyds Mills Press, Job Site. Hopefully, it can be released for their Fall 2010 catalog, but there are no promises on a schedule until they have it in hand (May 1, 2010 is my deadline).

Because this is a detailed story about a construction site with a lot of machinery, and beca

use I am all about odd angles and perspectives, I have to get the

perspective right. I was struggling with this particular frame. Where does the horizon go? Do both the crane and tower have the same vanishing points?

Enter, the blogosphere. I actually found a great soul who blogs about art, art lessons and even perspective: Julie Duell. I asked for help. She was more than happy, and posted th

ese thoughts for me. Very helpful. I will maintain a permanent link for Julie on the right.

Log in

for online lessons.

Alone in the Topiary Garden:

New #illustration. Peek at each stage in the process. Here you see #thumbnails of the #illustration idea.

I always say that no one can understand my thumbnails but me. That's OK because they're intended to help me work out my picture design and placement of elements. If an art director wants to see thumbnails, then I'll do cleaner, crisper thumbnails for him/her.

Next stage will be the under drawing. This will be an oil painting, so the drawing will be done to size (5.5"X8.5"—such as a book cover), then enlarged 200% in order to make painting it easier.

The narrative behind this is a girl briskly making her way out of a topiary garden full of odd characters and apparently also full of activity. I have some notes on my sketch in the upper right. While sketching, I had to decide what to include. What makes a good topiary? Flamingo, ostrich, urn, dolphin, dinosaur. I settled on the flamingo, ostrich, urn and way in the background, up high, will be an Egyptian, walking just like Egyptians always do.

Here's a help: the girl is in the lower right corner hustling out of the picture to the right. We, the viewers, are kind of low, looking up at her—that gives us a good underneath view of the topiaries. The ostrich (neck and head only) comes in from the left and is trying to nab her by the skirt.

That's all for now. Update on Old King Cole. I thought he'd be done and posted by tomorrow, but some of the small foreground detail is still wet, and it needs to dry so that I can finalize highlights and sharpen some edges.

Sorry for my cryptic opening and the pound signs (#). My blog is fed into my Twitter, and I want it to stay within 140 characters and contain good search term potential. The #s are supposed to help with that.

Java Programming and Duke

What does an illustrator know about Java Programming? Only that "Duke" this teardrop shaped dude is their mascot. And, I've done 5—I think—illustrations for Java book covers. Here are 5 sketches I did for this cover and the final. Here's the book cover. The art right now is from a previous title.

Rikki Line Art

Here's a peek at the line art for the illustration Rikki Tikki Tavi. I left the original art at Kinko's—of all things. I have to use their large format scanner to bring it down in size for these postings. I think the father's arm looks too wooden. But, that whole area will be almost totally in shadow—will try to fix, though. The final will be in charcoal.

Step 2 in OKC Illustration

Old King Cole is lined-out and ready for charcoal fill to develop the shadows and highlights. Then, I plan on a method I haven't used in about 6 years and hope I can pull it off: oil tints. First, the charcoal drawing will be sealed and then thin tints of oil paint will be applied; I'll lift out the areas of light with a kneaded eraser, building up, up, up. Hopefully, OKC will emerge very dimensional from a deep, warm, dark backdrop.

Illustrating Old King Cole

Old King Cole was not only a merry old soul, but he was also a toad…

   …in my world, at least. 

   His fiddlers? crickets and a grasshopper. A snail balances his bowl and a frog-in-waiting has brought a selection of his pipes--oh, and these aren't specifically p.c., non-smoking pipes. I found on Wikipedia, an interpretation that since OCK was so merry, that it stood to reason that "pipe" could have meant a recorder or flute, which he played along with his fiddlers three.

   These are the initial thumbnails.

Putting Rikki Into My Portfolio

I've loved Rikki-tikki-tavi (Rudyard Kipling) since I was a kid. I never read it or had it read to me but watched the animation on TV (1975, Directed by Chuck Jones).

   So, I've decided to do three black and white (charcoal) versions to put in my portfolio. Yes. Others have created art for this story, including Jerry Pinkney, but I'm going to do it too. Here, you see three thumbnails for my first frame. This part in the story takes place after the family in the bungalow has saved Rikki from the torrent and now he's sleeping (to his mother's horror), right on the pillow with little Teddy.

   I usually say that no one can understand my thumbnails but me. I call it, drawing ugly. I'm going with the one to the farthest left.

   Watch for progress updates.