Illustration Friday: Impossibility

A girl is playing in her backyard and discovers a dinosaur bone. Once she picks it up, she is met by an actual dinosaur. Before we know it, they become friends and go off on an adventure. After it is all said and done, the dinosaur leaves and she is left alone again with the dino bone. She recounts her tale to her mother and her brother. Her mother kindly humors her and praises her for finding the fossil. However, her brother mocks her and smugly explains the impossibility of the whole situation. Nevertheless, it was her adventure to be had.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting

When I did this self-portrait, I wanted to convey multiple ideas. One of them being a child lost in a grown up world. I had always considered myself childlike and often times childish. And I would find it difficult sometimes to function in a fast-paced, cynical world. Another idea I wanted to convey was the fleeting aspect of time – that time will escape us and before we know it, we're older and have not accomplished our goals.

Happy Easter!

I grew up boiling my eggs and then decorating them. That meant, if you happened to miss an egg during the hunt, you'd still be able to find it months later by smell alone. And how many of you remember those "shrinky dink"-type wraps that went around eggs? I think I may have tried every store bought kit I could find, from PAAS to Dudley. But nothing beats some acrylic paint and a small brush. I just may make this a tradition!

Illustration Friday: Talisman

"Talisman: an object that is thought to have magic powers and to bring good luck." I chose this piece I did last year to illustrate the story of the Little Red Hen. Somehow, I'm starting to see the seed as the object of good fortune or magical powers. But it only works for those who nurture it.

Character of Caricature: Part Two

Doing the final art for Carl Jung was pretty tricky at times. I ink my work so infrequently, that I sometimes forget a few safeguards. One of them is wearing lint-free photography gloves. This prevents oil from the hand contaminating the surface to be inked. There were many a line I had to repair because of that. Another safeguard is a piece of cardboard or other sturdy material to keep my hands from smearing work I had already done. But when it was all said and done, I was very happy with the results. I spoil myself with smooth gradients of color and value that I forget the simple joys of line-work and crosshatching. Well, here it is:

Illustration Friday: Poise

This is my first foray into Illustration Friday. The word this time s "poise" and it called to mind an illustration I did a while back. I was experimenting with the digital medium because at the time, my style as a graphic designer was very Photoshop heavy. So I did a lot of drawings that I scanned and then textured and colored in the computer. This one shows of Petunia's perfect poise as an up-and-coming ballet dancer.

Character of Caricature: Part One

My newest project challenges me to do something I hadn't done in a while: caricature. The trick to caricature is capturing the essence of the character in the exaggeration of features. The other trick is to exaggerate the correct things as it relates to the material. When I first did caricature in a public setting, I was in high school. It was for Ethnic Week and I was featured as the caricature artist. Well, I had done caricatures of friends and teachers as doodles in my notebooks and such. So I had a good understanding of how to mock people. But doing this for people, I had to mentally prepare myself to not to exaggerate the unattractive features. I only wished I had learned that lesson before I drew our assistant principal.

This project comes from a friend of mine who hails from my high school days. Elissa works for the Jung Education Center in Houston www.junghouston.org. The center "offers over one hundred courses, programs, and conferences every year that address the critical social and spiritual issues of our time as well as the need for personal growth and development." She needed an artist to develop a caricature of Carl Jung – something light-hearted yet respectful. I paused... so no huge nose or funny teeth - no exaggerating the unattractive features! OK. I can do light-hearted and respectful.

So immediately I asked for examples and at the same time, I looked up images of Jung and briefed myself a little on Wiki. I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a feeling for what he was like as a person to do the drawing some justice. I mean, it would be odd to draw him laughing and smiling if he was known to be unhappy or vice versa.

Here are a few images I had found and a few Elissa had sent me:





From these images and based on a few things I read on the man, I was able to come up with a few rough sketches. And one was picked to move forward:



What I liked about it was that it captured a lighthearted attitude with his smile and the glasses placed on his head. Elissa had told me that some important physical aspects were his glasses, his mustache and the pipe. I thought it added to the friendly nature to have the pipe in his hand. And the great thing was these very objects also added to the respectable nature she also wanted captured.

From this point, I clean the drawing up and transfer it to board where I will begin inking. Stay tuned for part two!