Picture Book Marathon 2011 - Day 11 & Day 12

And now for something completely different.

I built this guy out of cardboard and painted him up all pretty with acrylic paints.  He's actually a box for my wife's valentines (5th grade party tomorrow.)  They go in the mouth.

And then I liked him so much that I decided to come up with a simple story.  And then another.

It may sound funny but I would love to illustrate a book this way.  Though if I were to really go for it I would need to learn how to take a decent photograph (these look much better in person.)

(Also, I'm sorry about the lack of decent cardboard backgrounds.  These are just sketches after all.)

Book Munchers - New Photoshop Brushes

I didn't make the brushes used to paint this illo.  They were made by Jake Wyatt, a friend of mine.  Special thanks also to Jed Henry who constantly answers my Photoshop questions.  I'm still trying to figure out how to get more interesting textures in Photoshop.  I think this is a good step but there is still much to learn.

TIny Monsters

Just because.

More to come tomorrow.

Really Cheap Sketch Book

This might just be one of my favorite sketchbooks ever. It was made primarily from things I found in my home. Just corrugated cardboard, copy paper, glue, string and creative juices (sticky and yellow.)

The string wasn't found; I purchased it... and the hole punch. I found the rest.

This is the beginning.

This is the middle.

This is the end.

This is me actually holding the book in my very own hand (I'm in the print lab at school.) See the extra pieces of cardboard glued onto the cover? They are actually helping with the structural integrity of the book (and they look cool.)

Don't ask what this is about or who that guy is because I just don't know.

Spots

But not on dalmatians.

These are some quick spot illos I did this week. I think I'm getting close to understanding this process. Now I just need to do another 40 or 50 of these so that I can get good at it.

Mad Science

You'll see the rest of this story coming up later. Which one do you folks like better? More intense color or less intense color. I can't decide. Maybe I'll try another couple of experiments. Now that I really look at them, there really isn't much difference between the two.

Experimental Pork

This is an experiment I'm working on for my portfolio. I've got a bunch of these ink drawings from work (the Chinese early readers) and I want to give them an interesting color treatment that has more appeal than the junky color they currently have. When I get a bunch of these together it will really beef up my portfolio which feels sparse and unfocused at the moment.

Which of these do you like? What's working? What isn't working? Please be honest, this is for posterity.

A Bit More Photoshop Compositing

A couple of experiments. I really feel like I'm on to something here.



Hmm, the color went a bit wonky on these. I'm not sure why but they got a bit washed out.