The Sketchbook Project continues....

My main character has arrived on pages 4 and 5. It's time for him to begin his adventures on "uncharted waters!"

In other news, I've finally opened an Etsy shop! It's still a work-in-progress as I post more items for sale. The shop's name is JGTentas. Stop by and take a look!

Good-bye Pancake

So if you've read my blog, you know that the name was inspired by my dog. Sadly, my poodle, Dharma, passed away on August 12. It was her time to go and I saw it coming. She was buried this weekend at the Humane Society.

Shortly after she died, I started a new job, teaching art to elementary school students. I am glad to have a new job as my dog was with me in my studio when I worked. If I wasn't so busy right now, I would miss her even more so.

Now the task at hand is to update my blog. I have already thought of a new name and am in the phase of sketching ideas for a new header. It will still be devoted to my faithful companion. I plan to have it up within the next two weeks. Stay tuned. And R.I.P. my little pancake.

Vita's Sketchbook Project

And so it begins! Here's the title page - obviously my theme is "In 10 Minutes". Funny enough, this was the 2nd page I drew. The first one you can see here. Now that I'm back on track and ready to do my pages in order, I think it will go along very well! I'm excited to try some color on this paper.... cray pas? Colored pencils? cut paper? Who knows! For this project I'm allowing myself to play and try anything.

What I'm working on

Here is a rough sketch of an illustration I'm doing for Stories for Children Magazine.  It goes along with a poem entitled "Where have all the heros gone?"  It's pretty deep, and kind of serious for a kid's mag, but I thought this illustration kind of lightened it up a bit.

I got the OK from the Art Director on the rough.  So now I'll clean it up and then I'll move on to the painting stage.

Pretty messy, huh?  Yup, it's definitely the rough copy.

Magnetic garden

Working on a magnetic garden kit for Mudpuppy. I have to do a few backgrounds (this flower vase, a trellis, window box, and a garden) and then a bunch of interchangeable flowers.

As well as flowers I was thinking of adding in a little bee, a bird, or maybe even a little beetle. Can you guys think of any other little critters or objects I can add?

Illustration Friday, imperfect

Poor little Sally, she's finding it hard to fit in.

Sketchbook Project

I've made some progress on my "Uncharted Waters" this week. This is the first spread after my title page. I used a black Prismacolor pencil and watercolor. There will be a little bit of wrinkling with these materials, but I like the way it looks. It reminds me of a sketchbook that one would take out into nature to do field studies. It might be fun to press some leaves or other real objects and include them in the finished sketchbook. I guess I'll figure it out as I meander through the pages over the next few months. And since this is really for next year's tour, I should probably add 2012 to this page. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is working on.

Girl and Duck Are Back

Remember the sketch I posted last time? I decided to use Photoshop to add color. The sketch was done with a Micron pen.

I keep wondering what the story is here. Duck seems to be trying to get her attention. What is up with these two unlikely friends?

Final Art

Here's the final art of my cat and dog wood tiles that I showed the sketch for a couple weeks ago. They came out pretty cute, and I even sold a set at the last craft fair. Now I gotta go make more!

IF: Obsession

What person (or monster) wouldn't be a little obsessed with a cake like this?

He's a friend of the other monsters I sketched and posted on my blog here.
Maybe now I'll be able to get over my color commitment fear and get them finished!