This week I am celebrating my four year wedding anniversary with my husband Matt. We don’t go crazy to celebrate but, we try to follow the traditional gift ideas. This year the gift should be flowers. I have paper flower kits from paper source but, I want to do something more unique. After critique group on Saturday I got some great ideas from Jen and eHawk.
Since I’m working on his gift there is no husband’s choice today but, there will be husband’s present on Friday.
A local art store often puts wooden canvases on sale. During one of these sales I purchased some small ones to see how it would be to work on wood. Last Friday inspired by a meme I started almost 5 years ago now, I made this little piece. I used watercolors, colored pencils, and a white paint pen for the painting and the magenta edges are acrylic. I am extremely happy with how this came out. This panda is my current benchmark for how the rest of my work should look.
I decided to take this weeks choice to a final illustration stage.
This image was referenced from Streetmasters The people that can actually do this are incredible.
Wow it is strange to come back to snow and ice after seeing green for over a week! Also to switch back into big coats and multiple layers after being in shorts and t-shirts. When it was first suggested to me that we take this trip to FL in February it was December and I was just cuddling up to winter, stating “oh but I love the snow!”. After the barrage of storms that hit our area pummeling us with over 4 feet of snow I was totally ready for get a brief spring! We had a delightful time spending some time on the beach, getting freshly picked oranges, and visiting all the family in FL. I think we totaled over 12 hours of driving time up and down the Gulf Coast of FL.
We flew back home Saturday and after 48 hours home, Lucien showed us he had been exposed to a stomach bug during our travels. He is thankfully all better and I am catching back up with all my usual daily responsibilities, like my blog.
Our first day in FL we went to the Tampa Zoo which, is much larger than our neighborhood zoo. I had no idea how thin a giraffe’s neck is or how small a zebra is compared to a giraffe. It was wonderful to get to have a day at the zoo with my sketchbook and family.
My sketches are really rough, as they always are. It amuses me how rough my sketches are compared to how tight I make my finals.
Good to be back. Been doing a lot of work lately, I will hopefully be able to post it all here soon.
Cheers!
Doodles involving a new cuddly critter I made:
This is a rough color comp but there are things about it that I really like. Sometimes it is really good to draw fast and rough it helps you break bad habits and go in directions you maybe would not have tried given time. I also enjoy doing a color comp in Photoshop before I go to paper. With that undo button my fears don’t get in my way and I use color the way my imagination tells me to.
Got behind today due to a print press call and a poster deadline. Yep I have some work going on! I am very excited to be on my third theatre poster of the year. Hopefully I will be able to post poster one soon.
A heads up, next week there won’t be posts, but they will be back for Valentine’s Day!
Last night and today I am working on a commission from etsy. A shinning beacon, a Canary.
The biggest challenge is making the Canary stable. I think I figured out the best solution last night. Now to add the details.
I know this is not at all what Matt was imagining when he gave me the prompt Moose Under Water but, it is what came to me today. I am going to revisit this for sure and make it more goofy.
Last night as I went to sleep I was rehearsing what I would say here today. The day has turned exhausting and all my words seem to have vanished.
A lot has been going on in the illustration world around me including the launch of The Illustrated Section an awesome central location of ebooks from illustrators created by Dani Jones. Be sure to check it out.
I know he’s a rooster that’s why he is on the screen second.
And my Little Red Hen magnet:
I was hoping to get farther and have a final chicken today. Here are my sketches so far:
Fearing that I would not have time to get to the post office on Saturday due to my son’s second birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCIEN!), I wrapped up my sketchbook Thursday night and shipped it Friday. A few hours later I got the email about the extension. . . doh! I am happy to all who were able to take advantage 🙂 Honestly I got so sick between Friday and Saturday I have been in full recovery mode until now. Some things are meant to happen the way they do! As Oogway from Kung Fu Panda says “There are no accidents” Yep my son and I watched Kung Fu Panda on his birthday so it’s fresh, plus I love quoting movies.
Now for the sketchbook project. I was hoping to complete more pages. In the end I illustrated on 64 pages removing 14 drawing pages-this counts front and back. What is below doesn’t carry a story, most are little hits from life with Matt. In the sketchbook a spread from last week’s post goes in between each of these spreads, expect for the first two spreads below.
We drove through a blizzard after lots of crazy planning to help all the people flying so we could get everyone to VT.
Yes an hour before our wedding ceremony my Step-Mom, Rebecca, broke her femur. She is a trooper and she sent my Dad back to keep the wedding going! We visited her the next day.
Scul Ride!
Disco Murder Mystery from Wedding Anniversary. Matt looked so gross in his wig.
Lucien helping with the snow plowing from this year’s blizzards. He is using a plastic toy lawn mower.
Yes this really happened.
There you go! My sketchbook project and some windows into my life. I am going to put together a file of all the pages for better viewing. Just give me some time to figure out how I want to do that. If you also did a sketchbook project and have some ideas, drop me a line.
Sorry for the terrible lateness is posting, still Wed! Had to deal with snow all day.
Casey Girard Illustration