Illustration Friday~Glow

 

Playing around in Photoshop for Illustration Friday's word of the week.

It's the first snow of the season in Northeast Ohio, and I am feeling a Christmas glow!

Thanks Mark! Sometimes a good kick in the pants is all you need!

 

Inspiration~ It doesn't always come in the form of a little creative muse sitting on your shoulder whispering sweet encouragement and filling you with an abundance of energy. No, sometimes it comes from a fellow co-worker that gives you the push you need! He stands there, looking at you like you're kinda nuts and says "What do you mean you don't have enough time, you have 10 days!" Then he goes over to the schedule on the wall and points out all the gaps in the schedule that you aren't working and should be doing art! Encouragement comes in many forms; I can be a rather insecure artist with perfectionist tendencies, which adds up to-- I can get in my own way. So thanks Mark for the figurative "kick in the pants."

 

When I went on the SCBWI site at the end of November and saw the deadline for the Tomi dePaola Award for Dec.14th, I was kicking myself for not going on sooner. Yet I still figured I could pull it off. I knew that I needed to have everything complete by the 9th of December, since my schedule at work was going to be pretty full the week of the deadline. By December 2nd, I had just come up with the passage I liked, and only a quick rough to show for it. But I kept hearing Mark's voice in my head and that seemed to give me the edge I needed. When you don't always have an art director or a client that you know you must come through for, then you have to rely on your own resources, and that's not always an easy route. All and all I'm pleased with the outcome. Mark on the other hand keeps looking for the fawn..."Where's the FAWN?"..."The whole story is about the FAWN!" Oh well, you can't please everyone :)

 

The Unoffical Gallery of the Tomie dePaola Award

http://scbwicontest.blogspot.com/#!/

Illustration Friday~Snow

Wishing you all a Wonderful Holiday Season!!!

This week's challenge word is "Snow" and since I am a bit rushed this week with the holidays, I decided to dig out an older piece from my files. The snowman design was done especially for my uncle Ralph. He was a big supporter of my art. He and my aunt Lily, bought me my first art table, light and chair when I started out. It was quite the surprised! They stopped by one day and dropped everything off! It's moments like this in your life you just don't forget. I miss him dearly! My uncle had a large collection of hats, so this particular Christmas I thought I'd make him up is own special hat. At the time I made this design, I was working at a company where they made heat transfers. I also made tee-shirts, and sweatshirts for the rest of the clan that year. We have a BIG family dinner every Christmas Eve, there's about 25 of us in my aunt's basement. It's been going on, as of this coming Christmas, 29 years!

 The colored image above was flipped, when I scanned it into Photoshop. (these images are always reversed as part of the printing process) The black and white art was designed in Coral draw, then printed out on vellum paper, after printing them out they would then go to the screening room, where they would be burned onto the actual screen. Ink would then be applied, then transferred onto the paper stock that would be put into the heat tranfer press and applied onto the tee-shirt.

 

Merry Christmas Uncle Ralph!