Happy New Year 2017

I always start out the new year full steam ahead. This year is no exception. After un-decorating the house, dusting and cleaning, the new year lies ahead like a clean piece of paper. I've signed up for the new PiBoIdMo, now called #Storystorm, for my writing inspiration. I usually come out with at least four or five manuscripts worth working on. Having it in January seems ideal to me. Kudos to #TaraLazar and all the volunteers who make it happen. I'm very grateful.

Having finished one dummy this year, I'm eager to re-evaluate it for a few months and start sending it out. I discovered a great opportunity called Writing With The Stars that sounds perfect for me. Check it out here: http://beckytarabooks.com/contest/.

If I can manage to get my pdf dummy assembled by their Jan. 13/14 deadline, I plan to submit it and my manuscript for a chance to have a more experienced mentor look over it and offer advice.

On the illustration side, I hope to complete all 52 weeks of the 52 week illustration challenge, on facebook.  I didn't make very far last year. Hoping to do better in 2017.

I'm still working on photoshopped collages but itching to get to the studio to muck around with paint, oil pastels, pastels and printmaking. Hopefully I'll create some pieces to inspire me and add to my stash of collage bits to assemble in photoshop.

I holiday-ed most of December but did finish a couple of things. Used my collection of bottlebrush  and other evergreens to assemble this Winter Landscape, which is now my facebook banner for January.

Hope this finds you also full of new year plans that set your creative juices flowing.

Exploring Digital Collage

I've been exploring digital collage this month. My camera has had quite a workout photographing textures, patterns, hats and gloves. Here are a few of my experimental pieces:

Girl with a hat.

I drew a few quick faces, scanned them and dressed them with cropped photos of hats, fabric and buttons.

Latin Girl

Girl with red cloche hat.

Girl with red flowered hat. 

Hated the hands so I decided to "hire" my granddaughter, Phoebe to model some gloves. Two images below show Phoebe in the studio modeling and how I used the gloves below.

 

I had fun taking photos of patterned sweaters in local re-sale shops!                                                      Cut and pasted them into what I needed in photoshop.

       

Red haired girl

Laughing boy

Boy with a black hat

Frowning girl

Combining photos of gloves, drawn faces and digital drawing.

Combining three images into a banner.

Red Plaid Dancer: My favorite from the series.

My 2016 Portfolio

I attended #PWID this past weekend and had my portfolio reviewed by Giuseppe Castellano of Penguin Random House. It is MY FIRST ALL DIGITAL portfolio. Here are the images I submitted. Giuseppe's suggestions were to push the collage aspects of my work. To keep experimenting, try new things, avoid cliches, and to follow my muse. Guiseppe asked everyone what media they liked best. Many people answered with a media that they didn't actually use in their portfolio. I answered that I thought of myself as a generalist, I like to dabble in many media. SO guess what.....I'm going to play around with mixed media for a few months. Sounds like a winner to me. Heading out to photograph stuff for my library. Later Taters!

This was the image I made the most mistakes on. 1. Too digitized. I enlarged it for the portfolio and it was choppy on the curves. My drawing was not as specific as it should have been, especially on the van, grill, lines, etc. It was hard to tell what was really going on. (Plan to redo!)

Suggestion here was to replace lettering with icon on the sign for non-English readers.

Suggestion here was to pay more attention to lines on skirt. Make them flow with folds, etc.

Suggestion here was to watch the quality of images I use. Here the body is blurry. And avoid cliche eyes!

Add caption

Giuseppie liked this image and the use of painted paper.

Discovering collage via Photoshop and Photography.

I've been experimenting with Photoshop and photography. These scarecrows are perfect for my new manuscript, "Scarecrows Winter Getaway" Can't wait to wander in the country for more images to use. I love the look of collage but hated using glue, this may be the answer for me.

 I've been using lots of patterns but this is my first time using textures. Most were photos of things in my yard and studio: birdhouses, rocks, cloth. I think the effect is perfect for my scarecrows. Now I'm excited about finding more. Fall is the perfect season for capturing beautiful foliage. Heading out to capture more before the snow flies.

Dani Duck's Smart Dummies.

I'm working like a fiend to have a dummy ready for SCBWI-IL's Prairie Writer's Day in November.

Lucky for me Dani Duck is having an event on her blog called Smart Dummies. I need all the help I can get. I've only made two dummies. One took a million years and the other one didn't sell. SO I'm hoping to pick up some good tips.

Here's the link if you're interested: http://daniduckart.blogspot.com/p/smart-dummies.html

I'll try to post a few "Work in progress images" as I go along. Right now, I'm trying to divvy up my manuscript. More to come.....

August 2016 Combining traditional and digital illustration.

It's been a very long and busy month. I've been at the studio getting my hands dirty, painting images, textures and patterns to import and use in photoshop. Overall, I'm pleased with these images. It's opened up a whole new layer of interest to my work.