Colour palette for Skink on the Brink

I just love to see artists colour palettes, mixing trays, and colourful test papers. It gives a tiny glimpse into the thought process inside their creative brain.  It's fun to see how a colour scheme is fleshed out, knowing lots of experimenting and play went into each piece of artwork or illustration.
The colour palette above is the one I created while making the final art for Skink on the Brink. It ended up flowing onto a second page too...I like to mix colours myself, and with this book I wanted the colours to be quite earthy, and natural. I even kept real leaves collected from my cottage to compare against my hand mixed plasticine colours.

You can see my colour palette on the wire thingy above my art table. I like having it within arms reach, if I need to add another colour mixture, or if I need to remake a specific colour.
And of course, I had lots of pizza to keep me well fed...LOL...kidding,  those pile-o-boxes on the right under and on top of the table are holding my finished illustrations- keeping them safe from the curious little fingers of my 4 munchkins. From the amount there I'd say I was only about half way through the final art. The boxes were double in height once all of the artwork was complete.

April 2013 Desktop Calendar

(1280x1024), (1369x768), (1680x1050), (1920x1200)

It's April 1st, and you know that means...time for a spiffy new desktop calendar, and that's no foolin'! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter long weekend.

 This month's calendar features the always adorable (and always ready for his close-up) Stewie the skink. This is a snippet from one of the interior spreads from Skink on  the Brink. Can you believe the release date is next month?! We are SUPER excited!!! Stewie is too. Believe me, he worked hard to get this April feature. He kept my shoulder(s) toasty while I worked, serenaded the kids to sleep, dusted the studio (who knew a sliding skink on a Swiffer pad was sooo effective?), and he even rapped for me, it was one cool ditty to a very funky beat -that skink can throw down some mean rhyme, and bust some moves!
With the book release scheduled for May (YAY! :-D) everything is getting "Stewie-fied" around here. We plan to whip up some fun Stewie bookplates, and some other goodies, that Lisa and I would love to sign to personalize your book.  If you have any special requests, Lisa and I would love to hear them, just send me an email or leave a comment.

To download your own desktop calendar simply click on the required screen resolution above, right click, and select Save To Desktop. Oh, and FYI... if you hear a little voice and foot tapping coming from your computer screen, don't be alarmed, it's just Stewie...;-)

March 2013 Desktop Calendar

(1280x1024) (1369x768) (1680x1050) (1920x1200) 

 

I'm glad that March is just around the corner, it is tomorrow in fact! I don't know about you, but I am ready for Spring. I have had just about enough of the soggy sidewalks, stinky wet boots, snow shovelling and now I am dreaming about warmer weather, sprouting plants, and...book launches :)

Yep, the launch date for Skink on the Brink is getting closer- May 13th! I am super hyped!

 

This month's desktop calendar definitely has a more "Springy" feel. There is lush greenery everywhere and a new baby-a mommy with her new baby elephant. I created  this illo for the author of Skink on the Brink, Lisa Dalrymple. Her sister is having her first child, a girl! Yay, congratulations! So after some consultations between Lisa and myself, we decided on an  Asian elephant theme with some pink flowers to compliment her nursery.

I think elephants might be my new favorite animals to sculpt in plasticine, or at least a close second to skinks of course ;)

Creating all of those yummy wrinkles and leathery skin was really fun.

 

To download your copy just click on the screen resolution link you require (links are underneath the illo) then right click and save to desktop. Easy Peasy.

Have a great March everyone.

 





February 2013 Desktop Calendar

(1280x1024),(1369x768),(1680x1050),(1920x1200)

It's that time of month again- free desktop calendar time! I had such a great time creating the previous process post that I thought it would only be fitting to create this month's desktop calendar using the same illustration. It might be a bit early for such a Spring-y illo, but I couldn't resist. Besides, with all of this crazy weather lately, it's hard to know what season we are in. I think my bulbs were trying to poke through the dirt, only to be flash frozen the following day...geesh. If you'd like to read more about how I created this illustration( for my first picture book, Skink on the Brink(Fitzhenry& Whiteside), written by Lisa Dalrymple, due out this May!) please check out the process post.

To download simply click on the screen resolution size you require above, then right click and save to desktop.

Enjoy! 

My process for creating an illustration for Skink on the Brink

 This has been such a terrific week, with my artwork for Skink on the Brink( written by the lovely Lisa Dalrymple) making the cover of Fitzhenry & Whiteside's Spring 2013 catalogue.  I have been floating without my feet touching the ground since then, which makes for a very peculiar looking happy dance, let me tell you ;)

This illo below is also featured in the catalogue on the Skink on the Brink page( psst see pg 4!).

 I thought it might be fun to show the process of how I created it.

The first step was to cover the illustration board with colour blocks of the background colour.

Yes, it looks like a bit of a mess at this point but it was all about getting the colours onto the board and making sure I had full coverage( for a full bleed illustration). So we have the sky at the top, some grassy hills in the background and some green and muddy parts in the foreground.

The next step was to start from the furthest part of the background and start working forward. In this case it was time to put on the trillium leaves....lots and lots of trillium leaves. And yes, each single leaf was done by hand. That little tool just off to the right is just perfect for grabbing a wee bit of plasticine and, when it is pressed down, it creates a tiny leafy shape. One of my favorite tools. Trees were added, as I continued working forward. 

Many hours later the background leaves are all down.The trees have texture and highlights, to give dimension, and the foreground ground cover goes down. 

Stewie was sculpted off to the side and put on top. Next the foreground trillium leaves and stems are laid on, but not pressed down yet. At this point I know some of the white trillium flowers will be overlapping with the stems to be more organic, so I left these leaves just sitting on top of the plasticine.

Then after wiping off my hands, to get rid of any dark plasticine( as it can transfer to the white, and we don't want dirty white trilliums, right!) I was ready to start adding all of the trillium blooms. Starting again from the back and working forward, I added each trillium petal, one at a time. Next the squirrels, deer mouse(keep a look out for that little guy) and yummy crickets were added( sshhhhhh. they are hiding, I don't think Stewie has noticed them yet?). 

And finally, after some final tweaking, everything was pressed down gently and the illustration was complete! YAY!

Stewie made the cover of the Fitzhenry & Whiteside Spring 2013 catalogue!

 I'm so beyond thrilled to share some big news!! On the cover of Fitzhenry and Whiteside's Spring 2013 catalogue is....drum roll please..... artwork from Skink on the Brink! Lisa Dalrymple and I are so honoured and super excited.
Here is the image that they used for the cover:

It is actually interior art form the book, a double page spread, so it gives a wrap around effect- cool eh! To see the full jacket just click on the jacket link under the cover image at the link above.

To see the entire catalogue (psst... check out page 4), which is jam packed full of highly anticipated books, that I personally can't wait to get my hands on, please click on the Children's portion link under the cover image at the link above.

Here is  the cover illustration. As you can see the left side will wrap around to the back, so room has been left on the lily pads and in the water for text. The right side of the illustration is the front. And yes, I also did the lettering in plasticine.  

Mark your calendar, it will be out this May!!! Lisa and I can't wait to share this book with you guys!! 

Happy New Year!!!

(1280x1024), (1369x768), (1680x1050), (1920x1200)

 

 

Happy New Year! Can you believe it is January 2013? Where does the time go?

 

Here is my January 2013 desktop calendar. If you'd like to grab yourself a copy to download simply click on the desired screen resolution size above, then right click "save as desktop". 

 

I thought this tobogganing illo was perfect for January.  The kiddos and I have been a regular fixture at the local hills since we received the first snow of the season last week. Gotta get as much sledding in as we can while the snow lasts, right?

 

 I don't know about you but this past year seemed to fly by at lightening speed. It was just last January I drove out to Fitzhenry & Whiteside with sample illustrations in the back seat, to meet with Christie Harkin, my editor, and Cathy Sandusky to share my initial ideas for Stewie the skink. I was SO nervous!  This was my first picture book contract, after all- a dream come true. I had a lovely day meeting with Christie and Cathy, and many of the friendly FitzWits staff. Even the resident cats strolled by to say "hi" and get some cheeky rubs. Although I think they were more interested in curiously inspecting my art boxes. Luckily none of the artwork was squished or "floppled upon" during my visit. ;) 

Since that day, I have been busy working on the roughs, then revising, and revising and revising and now...after lots of fun(erm...work?- hard to call it that when it IS so much fun) I am pleased to report  the plasticine illustrations for my first picture book Skink on the Brink, written by Lisa Dalrymple, are complete. Lalalalaaa!

 We had the test photo shoot just before Christmas with my photographer Heather, of  Heather Hogan Photography. Heather and I were super excited about the shoot and the results look fantastic, I can't wait to do the final shoot.

 

I hope to post some process blog posts, once the book launches, to share some of the many things I have learned along the way illustrating my first picture book. So stay tuned for those.  

 

 Here's to a successful, happy and adventurous 2013 everyone :)