Rosie portrait sketch

Here is a sketch of Rosie (my final pet portrait). This one is a little more detailed than the blocking sketch. It's not incredibly detailed though. The goal here is to lay everything out, including the small details, with a little more definition. For instance, we now have seagulls holding up Rosie's name banner (a great idea that Rosie's mom had). There are the requested crabs and tennis ball in the portrait now. there is even a defined area where my signature lives-this too has been worked out as part of the overall plan. Some serendipitous surprises are nice during inking and painting, but not when it comes to the bones of the work. I like to have a good, solid foundation on which to build.

The next step will be the finished watercolor pencil sketch!

From sketch to final

Follow along with me as I turn this sketch into a finished illustration.

My junked Pumpkin

Have you entered the Pumpkin Junkin contest yet? There is still time... approximately 9 hours... not MUCH time, I suppose. Anyway, here's my "junked" Pumpkin. Now get to work -- hurry up!

Illustration Friday: Skinny

Skinny Spook-tastic Jack O'Lantern holding a skinny-branched sign! Happy Halloween!

My last custom pet portrait. For now.

Decisions, decisions. Layout A or B?
(End of post)

Meet Rosie! Her full name is Rosalita, just like the Bruce song. Very cute, huh?

Rosie will be my last custom pet portrait. After Rosie is complete, I will be taking an indefinite hiatus from doing custom pet portraits. What I am basically saying is that yes, I won't be doing them anymore, but I am not locking the door behind me. I have loved and enjoyed doing custom pet portraits for the past five years. It's been one of the most important creative experiences - or experiments! - I've ever had. And believe me, this was a very tough decision to make. But, it was also very important for me to make it. Sometimes the toughest decisions are the ones you need to make the most.

I say I'm not 'locking the door behind me' because, at some point down the road, it is possible that I may start doing custom pet portraits once more. But, if this comes to fruition, the creative and business model will be something very different than what it is now.

This decision does not mean in any way, shape or form that I am done with pet art. To the contrary! Pet art will remain a major focus of mine, but in a new and different (and fun!! and exciting!!) format. (More on that down the road...)

For now, the fat lady will sing when my work on Rosie is completed. That said, I hope you will enjoy watching the process of my "swan song" portrait, Rosie, unfold!

(Client chose B!)

HD Ten-minute time-lapse pet portrait video!

Watch my HD time-lapse video of painting the below portrait of Calpe & Capri!
(Please make sure to click on the little "HD" button to watch it in HD)

Here is my first-ever time-lapse video. This was a lot of fun to make and something I've wanted to do for a long time.  Editing video is not easy. It took a lot of time and energy but it was worth the efforts -- I'm really happy with how it came out. I'm glad I was able to accomplish this and I hope you enjoy it! It's ten minutes long so there may be some download time. I suggest you let it download in the background for awhile while you go on about your other business and then come back to watch it once it's complete. That way you won't waste your time waiting to watch it, and hopefully not encunter the "jaggies".

Completed Calpe & Capri portrait

Above: Calpe front, Capri in back



Capri

Renting vs. Building

Guess what world? I've finally learned something. I can't do everything at once. I've also learned that I CAN make decisions about what I which avenues I choose to further develop my creative career, and what I in turn have to give up in order to make that happen. Because there are only so many hours in the day, days in a week, weeks in a month and months in a year.

Though I am young at heart (and certainly not old in body) I am at a point in my life experience when I'm feeling an almost magnetic-like pull propelling me toward further development in specific areas... and, at the same time, I also am keenly aware of time tick-tick-ticking away. You just can't get those minutes back, once they're gone. Maybe this has much to do with my mothers' massive stroke this year—a complete wake-up call in so many ways... or turning forty this past June. Maybe it's a combination of things. But I know that I can't move forward any longer without making decisions. The hard decisions. Some things have "got to go" in order for me to move forward in other areas.

I once heard a quote about being a mom. It went something like "You can have it all, you just can't have it all at the same time." Though I am not a mom to any human beings, I have always been a mom to my own creative spirit, and in all honestly, my creative spirit has needed a fair amount of 'mothering' at several points in my life. I'm happy to say I've 'come through' for it thus far, at this point on my journey.

Anyhow, this quote really resonated with me—I've long felt this way about the various creative avenues which, over the years, I have pursued from time to time. I've undertaken many avenues because I really enjoy trying different ways to push my own artwork forward—to see what develops, what can I share, what can I learn, and how far I can take it. And when I feel the desire to try something, I just need to try it, go for it, "rent it out" for awhile to see if it is something that will grow. I give it my all and I give it some time. But eventually, some of these avenues have grown louder than others. They not only have become more demanding in general, but more importantly, they're where my interest is more and more focused. They are where my fire and passions continue to grow. They have become my plots of land, and I now find myself wanting to devote all my allotted time and energy to building on them alone. Because there's only so much time in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month, months in a year.

When the demands of my plots of land collide with the demands of my rentals, it's time to face things and make decisions. I guess it's time to be my own landlord.

Pinky Booh... process show and tell

I illustrated a book earlier this year which was recently published. This wonderful book and story is called Pinky Booh, written by Arjun Chatterjee, and published by Rubicon/Oxford University Press. I've posted about it a few times here so you may be familiar. I want to share some of the process of creating the characters with you.

In the above sketch, you will see one of my first passes at designing the characters of Pinky Booh and the Tooth Fairy. The final Pinky is essentially the same as the first pass-- but, in place of her flowers, she has cute little pig tails instead. Otherwise, everything the same.

In my mind and on paper, I originally envisioned The Tooth Fairy  character as more of a "free spirit" type, but a brassy, take-no-guff one. In this first pass, she's very cute with her curly, wild hair, squat stature and horn-rimmed glasses. In the end I modeled her, in stature and in spirit, on the great Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada! A great performance! And an archetype that in the end fits our Tooth Fairy perfectly.

I then inked in the first Pinky/Tooth Fairy combo to see how everything would play.

Here come the revised FINAL Pinky Booh and Tooth Fairy...

...and here is the final color illustration.
Note the rough edges-- this bleed was not visible in the final product.

"Crap" in German is "Mist"

You know when you have a day that, well, let's just say you've had better? That's a crap feeling to walk around with. I was having a bad day a few weeks ago. At the end of it, I had a little 'doodle therapy' on my way home. Hey, it gave me a good chuckle. I guess, in retrospect, it really did make my day better. And now I have some funny souvenirs as a reminder to laugh when I have a bad day.