An Angry Gesture

It's not too hard to come up with angry/frustrated gestures for my character lately. 

All I need to do is look out the window.

And the news says more to come in a few days?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Night and Day

One of the most wonderful things about being an illustrator is that each project is so different, and for an infinite number of reasons.

I have been working on a non-fiction picture book about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. While the first round of sketches are with the publisher for review and fact-checking, I have been working on my own project. 

It's a dummy of a picture book that I wrote. 

How fun to go from "make Henry look more like the real Henry", to putting neckties on pigs just because I want to!

Or a crown on a frog?

I hope you find joy in what you do. 

Today and everyday!

Decisions, decisions...

I'm working on color roughs for a picture book.

It's set in the late 1800's to early 1900's. So, it seems a perfect time to incorporate some borders.

But, I need to figure out how much line I want to use. I need to think about it now, 

because this will have to stay consistent throughout the book.

So I try some different amounts.

Thank heavens for scanners.

And printers.

I think I want to keep it as painterly and hand-done looking as possible.

Homage to those beautiful postcards and scrapbooks of days gone by.

What do you think?

Decisions, decisions…

What no one will ever know...

I am thrilled to be working on a picture book about Henry Ford as a young inventor. 

This week I have devoted several days to research, trying to find out what his first "tractor-ish" (that's my technical term for it) contraption looked like. After countless hours and consulting with the author, editor, and art director, we have come to the conclusion that no one really knows.

So, I am free to interpret (and hope the expert readers when reviewing the sketches don't reeeeaaally know either)…

And in the Fall of 2015, when a young reader is looking at the small, "tractor-ish" contraption in the lower corner of a two page spread that child won't know that this illustrator spent countless hours trying to figure out what no one really knows :-)

Also, just a personal note…

I had the most incredibly annoying helper today!

 ZZZZZZZZZZZ

"Draw the Corgi..."

I mentioned to my friend, Claudia, a very talented illustrator (check out her blog, here), that a friend brought over their new Corgi puppy to meet our poodle (and us) last night. 

This morning I awoke to a text from her, "Draw the Corgi when you have time". 

Of course, one never has time, one must make time, so here are a few little sketches from memory that I did before I set to work on my book deadline today. 

I was struck by her funny proportions.

What a regal cutie!

Puppy love!!!!! xo

Silly Little Things

I bought these funny little pins at Artifacts years ago. 

I didn't know why I bought them. 

And I don't know why I kept them. 

But when I was drawing a pincushion this morning, look who appeared? Suddenly they were there without me even meaning to put them there--- without me even seeing them.

It's a snowy, blowy day here today--- 

I'm keeping warm, and drawing inspiration from silly, little things ;-)

Hugs

Need a hug? 

I can always use a good hug. 

Here's a little painting that I did yesterday. It's part of a 'nostalgic' project idea that I have brewing.

 

 Happy weekend, everyone... here's a hug.

Hat Head

Today I wore my illustration hat for a while.

I don't look good in hats. I have kind of big, curly hair and if I wear a hat I feel like I have a pea head. If it is a big enough hat that I don't feel like a pea head, then I suffer hat head when the hat is removed.  I also am never fully relaxed and comfortable wearing a hat. I feel very aware of it and rather conspicuous. "Look at Jennifer, wearing a hat", is what everyone is saying and thinking--- and if they aren't, they should be.

Above is a rough "ruff" sketch I did while wearing my il-lusty hat today. It's a card commission for a client that I will then have for sale at  my etsy shop.

To be wearing so many hats can be troubling... especially when one doesn't look good in them.

Deadlines period.

I take deadlines seriously.

I have learned later in my professional life that others do not.

It really comes down to whether you see a deadline as a guillotine, or a mere suggestion? Deadlines to me are akin to my mother counting to three. 

Did I know what would happen if she made it to three? 

No. 

Did I want to? 

No. 

And there it was--- 

Not worth the risk.

If I miss a deadline, I must be subconsciously convinced that something terrible will happen. My hand will fall off, or my teeth will pop out, or... I don't know?

Perhaps it was growing up with a father who had us to the airport 3 hours early for our flight.

You had a deadline.

Needed to be prepared. 

To face it. 

To meet it. 

To fulfill your obligation.

I've been working on one for a children's magazine. Can't show you too much. Top secret world of children's publishing, you know...

But I will make it. 

I take deadlines seriously--- period.

Torn

I spent my morning doing illustration work. I have often said that I have creative A.D.D.. I hardly noticed that I had journeyed across my studio and was absorbed in wiring old glass rosaries together into a necklace.

I looked up and noticed this little boy sketch stuffed into a wire basket of baubles. He looked a little concerned, like he didn't belong in there. He had been torn off the page of some unneeded document and tucked away for another time.

He looked at me.

I smiled at him.

Another time...