Guess what time it is? It's final artwork time!!

Yup, that's right, it is final artwork time!!! I'm so excited to get started on the plasticine art. Can you tell? It has been so quiet on the blog lately and I didn't even even get a chance to make a July desktop calendar- so sorry everyone, but we made a last minute dash to the cottage.

So this is what is going on over here. I've been mixing and kneading lots of plasticine. It's a great way to keep the arms toned ;) I also keep track of my ratios on a sheet of paper, a sort of mixing chart, so if I run out of a colour I can refer back to it and make it again.

I'm SOOO excited to get cracking on the plasticine art...I think I already said that, oh well. I still feel like I need to pinch myself most mornings because I feel so incredibly lucky and honoured to be working on this picture book project. The story is such a perfect fit. And I have had such a wonderful time bringing Stewie the skink to life in my sketches from Lisa Dalrymple's fab manuscript. I still have a few revisions awaiting approval, that might need further tweaking. It has been a great learning experience to go through my sketches with my editor, Christie Harkin. She gives great constructive feedback, and our brainstorming sessions always leave me feeling energized with tons of great ideas. She totally rocks!!
For those of you who follow me on FB, you may have noticed a bunch of Stewie(the real Stewie) pics that I shared yesterday from Lisa's recent trip to Pinery Park. She shot some fabulous photos of him. And it turns out, after lots of searching with the naturalist outdoors, Stewie surprised them all by hiding under a desk in their office. Stewie found Lisa! That silly Stewie :)

June 2012 Desktop Calendar

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I thought I'd try something a little bit different and include part of the initial sketch concept for this recent plasticine illustration. You might recognize the mouse hanging off the plant, he was featured in May's desktop calendar. If you would like to download this calendar to your desktop, simply click on the required screen resolution size above, then right click and "save to desktop".
Have a great June everyone. I'm excited to see our little garden start to sprout ;) Ahhh, the beginning of summer...

Proud Auntie moment! Skink on the Brink colouring pages

My brother-in-law sent me a cute FB comment today to tell me that my 2 yr old niece really liked the collages I made the other day, and he wondered if he might print them off for her to colour. Well, of course! How wonderful. :) Look at those expressive strokes, such confidence and flair! Here are her masterpieces below:

When her 6 year old big brother got home from school, he wanted to colour some too. After an hour of intense concentration he finally finished his great works of art. What can I say, I am one proud Auntie Suz at this present moment!*gush* I just love to see my nephew and niece(and my kiddos) being artsy- so good for the soul. I love his great use of colour and the attention to detail.  Here is his fantaaabulous creation below:

Aren't these great! Hmmm....I think perhaps a companion colouring book to go along with the picture book I am illustrating, Skink on the Brink(Fitzhenry &Whiteside) written by Lisa Dalrymple, might be a fun idea?! What do you think?

If anyone else would like to print the collages off as colouring pages, please feel free. Just click on the link and right click on the image then save/print.  If you do wish to print them off, I would love it if  you could take a pic of the completed masterpieces and share them with me, my email can be found on the right sidebar! I'd love to show them on my blog. :)

Some Collages of my rough sketches for "Skink on the Brink"

I know it has been rather quite on my blog lately, but believe me there's lots going on behind the scenes. As many of you know, I am in the process of illustrating my first picture, Skink on the Brink (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) written by Lisa Dalrymple, and it's due out in Spring 2013. It has been a very amazing experience so far! I am loving every second of it.
I have been wanting to share with you some of the sketches I have been working on during the rough sketch revision process thus far. So with the thumbs-up from my wonderful editor, Christie Harkin, I have created some collages from tidbits of my sketches, to give you a sneak peek of Stewie the skink, some of his adorable friends and other interesting characters. Keep in mind these are rough sketches, so there will be changes/tweaks during the revision process. ;)

Here we have a  collage of  some close-ups of the our little skink, Stewie. Isn't he a character? He is a fun loving, toe-tapping charmer, with loads of energy and perseverance.

And here we have a collage of some of the animals that Stewie encounters in the story. Some are friendly, and some most definitely are not...

I hope to be able to share more as I go:) Especially once I get going with the final plasticine art....I can't wait!! I'd love  to do some process posts, to show some of the illustrations from concept sketch to final art. What fun! Heeheee ;)



May 2012 Desktop Calendar is here!

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Happy May Everyone!,
I couldn't resist using one of the fun mice from a recent illustration I created for my children's nursery school annual fundraising gala. There have been quite a few "mice in boots" desktop calendars lately...hmmm, maybe I should change it up a bit for next month? This little guy was begging for a close-up. Their fun, exuberant personalities do bring a smile to my face, and I hope they do to you as well :)
To download please click on the required scene resolution above, then right click on"set as background". Easy peasy!
Lots going on behind the scenes, I hope to share some of it really soon.
Bye for now

What I have been up to...

I taught a plasticine workshop in late February for the Nursery School CO-OP  organization in my area. My children had attended one of these schools, and I still keep in touch with the lovely ladies that teach and run the school. I had gone into their classroom to do a workshop with the JK kiddos, and they were kind enough to welcome me back to give a workshop to all the teachers in the organization. Turns out I am WAY more nervous talking to a group of adults then a bunch of kids-ekk!

Anyway, while I was there, I was asked if I might be interested in designing and donating a plasticine illustration to their annual fundraising Gala. Well, I was honoured and excited to get started. This nursery school is simply outstanding. Not only are the  teachers phenomenal, they're so patient, caring and nurturing.  I was continually amazed at the imaginative and interactive ways they would introduce new curriculum to the students- BRAVO!!!

 

So my illustration idea began when I saw this adorable photo posted on Facebook by Alma Fullerton, a CANSCAIP and SCBWI CanEast friend. Oh my gosh, how scrumptious is this little mousy?!! Well lots of us thought so, by the comments left on her page. But my editor, Christie Harkin, tagged me and said she thought this would look great in plasticine. " Ooooh yes, it most certainly would!! I love a challenge" I said to myself- yes I do talk to myself aloud quite often ;)

So I got sketching, and I  tried not to copy, but rather be inspired by this gleeful expression:

And of course, my little mousy has boots! Surprise, surprise, I love boots ;)

I composed a scene around this little fella, and once I was satisfied, after playing around with the composition, I got to work on rendering the sketch in plasticine. The really fun part. Here are some WIP pics with my iphone:



Did I tell you I love making boots?! LOL I even put some tread on the boot! Hee hee, too fun. I also decided to add a mouse pilot flying a hummingbird:



And here is the final illustration. I think it just might be a new favorite! I an just loving the expressions of the mice, and their little cricket friends too.

I delivered it to the school yesterday, and they loved it! YAY!!! I can't wait to see it once it is matted and framed. I sure hope it gets lots of bids- fingers crossed. It would look great in some "little one's" bedroom, don't ya think?

 I feel honoured to have been asked to create this illustration. It feels pretty nice to be able to give a little something back after having had such a wonderful experience with their school. My kiddos learned so much and it helped shape them into the kids that they are today!  

April Desktop Calendar

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Here is my April desktop calendar.  Isn't Miss Mousy a fun character to sum up all things Spring- rubber boots and all? It will be a very short post today, as I have little ones very "under the weather"...stomach bug :( and unfortunately, that isn't an April Fool's joke).  I hope Miss Mousy brings a smile to your day and finds a lovely home as your desktop calendar.

Keep well my friends!