Illustration Friday - Swarm

"There he his...let's get him girlszzzzzzz!"

Laura Numeroff and St. Louis County Library - SLCL

The St. Louis County Library hosted an author event last night featuring Laura Numeroff. She was on a book tour for her newest "Ponyella" which is touted as a new twist on an old favorite, "Cinderella." She read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" with cute little mistakes as a way of interacting with her audience. The children seemed to enjoy this. She also read aloud her newest book, "Ponyella" and "If You Give a Pig a Pancake."

The author answered questions from the smallest readers in her crowd all the way up to the tallest. My own children and I enjoyed our small moment with her during the signing of the books we purchased. The SLCL offered some fun activities such as creating a wand or coloring pages.  

Doreen Cronin will be at the Daniel Boone Library on March 11th if you are interested. 

TFR,

Cindy

Layers - Illustration Friday

A good, close-up sniff lets this little bunny know that these onions are not Easter Eggs. Although both have layers and pretty colors, he will need to leave the field and hop to the chicken coup for that delicacy.

Some practice with layers in Photoshop results in several different versions of an image.

Wacom Cintiq, Adobe Software and my MacBookPro

What can I say? I see the world in a whole new way with my Cintiq. I cannot imagine a time when I did not own one. Do not get me wrong, there is still something very magical about holding a pencil or paint brush. However, the computer is such a wonderful tool for playing around with color. It gives you the freedom to delete and add layers with ease. I especially love the opacity bar. Being able to sketch directly on the screen of the cintiq is becoming just as natural to me as on paper. I also enjoy the faster results I get in completing an illustration. In an age where time is money, this is critical.  

Of course, the wonderful software by Adobe helps make this work as well as the fabulous features of my Mac. I have a great "set-up" in my studio and will post pictures soon. I feel like a high tech animator at Disney or Dreamworks. The combination of digital and traditional methods of creating art makes this a very exciting time to be an artist. I like taking my digital creation and recreating it with a pencil and paintbrush too. This is sort of a reverse way of thinking but I think the color study helps my traditional art.

Happy Drawing!

TFR,

Cindy

Sweater - Illustration Friday

Looks like Aunt Clara and her knitting needles have been at work again...Happy St. Valentine's Day!!

Illustration Friday - Reverse

A quick little sketch for the hard working poets out there."It bothers me when I must re-verse my poem. It was hard enough to write the verse the first time."

More snow

Well it appears we have another snow day around here. My business trip cancelled for the rest of the week. I have taken this as a sign to work on my craft more. Hope you enjoy.