IF farewell

Train

I missed the train so I'm posting an oldie

IF wild

IF urban

IF egg

IF swim

Whale balloons for sale

IF glasses (aka spectacles)

Bear with me... no seriously don’t leave. I’m sorry about the pun.

When I was hiking with some friends on the Inca trail in Peru we passed a warning sign with a bear on it. We asked our guide about the bears and he told us they were called spectacular bears.

This filled us with glee. How wonderful is that? And why or what makes it spectacular? Our imaginations filled in the blanks.

So it was with a grain of chagrin I found out it was actually called the spectacled bear – but let’s be honest, in my heart he will always be spectacular.

IF yesterday

'I could tell you my adventures — beginning from this morning,' said Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.'

-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I figured I would draw from this quote but then I just drew a bunny

IF talent

Navigating the reanimated market takes luck, a good pair of stilts & talent

 

IF whisper

some bunnies

I did these as part of a larger commissioned piece.

of Woven Wood

I've been away for a while but I haven't been idle! (my poor negleted blog xoxo... all better?) So what exactly have I been up to? well...

Last year I was one of the winners of the 'Illustrators of the Future' contest, and this April I was flown to LA for the award ceremony and book release. I got to meet lots of wonderfully talented people; my fellow illustrator winners: Paul Pederson, Carly Trowbridge, Hunter Bonyun, Mago Huang, Fiona Meng, Greg Opalinski, Jay Richards, John Haverty, Pat R Steiner, Rhiannon Taylor, and of course the judges who mentored us during the week: Val Lakey Lindahn, Ron Lindahn, Stephen Hickman, Cliff Neilsen, Robert Castillo, Stephan Martiniere... just to name a few.

The story I illustrated for the Anthology is called 
'Of Woven Wood' by Marie Croke

I made a little animation from the image which can be seen here below. I hope to have a version with the intended soundtrack up as soon as I can secure the correct license to use the music.

Animation short based on the illustration I made for Marie Crokes story 'Of Woven Wood'
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bridge water emporium

day Twentyfive

To play the calendar through from day one or to leave a comment, see the post below

This interactive December calendar countdown to Christmas featuring Zoe and Dante is a work in progress and may not always be up in time or bug free, but if it's not working please check in later and hopefully we'll have sorted it out.

The advent calendar is part of a collaboration I'm doing with a fun gal from New York called Wei. Eventually it will be polished up to a rosy shine. But seeing as that may not be until spring, and melting snow tends to make Santa’s festive attire smell of wet wool and cinnamon (a romantic notion in theory but a bit of a turnoff as you prance through the daffodils) I’m posting it now.

If your device doesn’t support flash I’ve also included videos of each animation. To watch the video animations from older days please follow this link to ‘A very Zoe and Dante Christmas’ where I’ve collected them all for easier viewing.

And again to play the calendar through from day one, see the post below.

day One

If your device doesn’t support flash I’ve also included videos of each animation. To watch the video animations from older days please follow this link to ‘A very Zoe andDante Christmas’

trees & clouds

I’m working on a little movie and I thought it might be fun to share some of the set components I’ve drawn so far. We’ve got your average fluffy clouds, snowy trees and some tree sweaters including birds. A small penguin paperclip snuck in while I was documenting the sets. He stems from a box of penguins I bought in Tokyo and is so cute I didn’t have the heart to oust him.

and now, some penguins

I’ve been thinking of penguins lately, penguins in sweaters to be precise! It’s almost become something of an obsession, as doodle after doodle features a flappy sea bird in a finely knit jumpers.

It all started with the call for knitters to aid the oil exposed penguins in New Zealand. And seriously, when you see a picture like this (link to image), tell me you don’t feel the urge to draw handsome penguins too.
So here is a little charmer getting a soapy scrub down as his friend is distracted by a suspicious scarf.

PiBoIdMo

November rises and that means, it's Picture book idea month! YAY!

I loved participating last year and on top of a slurry of new ideas, I won the delightful book you see below donated by Jannie Ho. So again, YAY! Tomorrow I start the 2011 PiBoIdMo and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

contraption

meet freckles

my process

Hi everybody! I just got back from an inspiring visit to Montreal & New York, and I am more than ready to get back to the drawing board. *smiles* Just wait until I introduce you to Freckles the alligator!

But first, just before leaving on my trip I did an interview for InspirU Coo Coo and I’ve included below my answer to the question ‘describe your illustration process’. For the full interview follow the link.

Hugs everybody. Good to be back, and I can’t wait to go visit you all soon.

1 - I choose a theme

‘scruffies’: term I use for the comfy and by no means sexy clothes I wear when working in my home studio.

2 - Research and inspiration

3 - I draw a thumbnail sketch... here is an example of an actual thumbnail sketch and the respective final image 

4 - I scan the thumbnail and enlarge it, then print it out and use it as a backbone for the detailed drawing on the light table.

5 - I figure out the perspective points (if relevant). I often tape multiple extensions to the image for the perspective points and use really long rulers. 

6 - I draw the basic image in pencil

7 - I then ink the image

8 - Finally I fill in the texture. I sometimes scan the image and test different lighting gradients on my computer before applying them in ink.

My tools

However when I doodle, I just put pen to paper and try not to think too much.

Have a great day, and again you can find the rest of the interview here.

slightly speedy sketchbook peek...

speeded up flip through of my 2011 sketchbook project sketchbook

I’ve been busy as bees! This is great for me, not so much for my little blog. I’ve been doodling over at boy in a bear suit, but it’s not the same. I thought I best idle the time here by sharing more of my 2011 sketchbook for the sketchbook project. It’s a bit speeded up as it was too long. On the upside I kind of like the old super 8 feel where things go just a smidge too fast. Enjoy.

boy in a bear suit...

Hello Tuesday that feels like a Wednesday!

I don't have any big lovelies to share just yet but in my blogging absence/abstinence I started a doodle blog on the side.

Boy in a bear suit is a blog to host a little challenge I’ve set up for myself. The criteria are ‘keep it simple’ (i.e. just characters), ‘post daily’ and ‘no bunnies’ (sorry Zoe and Dante, I still love you!)

And do not fret Zoe and Dante will be sharing lots more adventures right here as usual!
Hugs!

journey

A bunch of months ago I was visiting Tammie’s blog and one of her delightful photos immediately caught my attention. I commented that I could see Zoe and Dante having an adventure in her landscape.

To my delight I got an email shortly after with the photo in question attached, giving me permission to borrow from it! I was flattered and thrilled! I started the image right away... but it just wasn’t working out and in the end I put it aside.

Then as it so happens, this week’s IF theme is journey, and I thought of that failed image. It was perfect. If only I could get it to work... I guess time gave me the distance to see it with fresh eyes, because now, after some tweaking (ok a lot of tweaking) I think I found my way.

undead toys 'too'

Or as the delightful Bella puts it: 'they are not undead, just misunderstood.'

I did a second version of the undead toys, just to see how it would look in a different setting. I think the bunnies pop more in this one, but there is a quality I like in the first one too. I'm glad I did both.

I've got some wonderful projects going on at the moment. One of which is a collaboration with a really talented friend on an animated short. I'll do some updates here as the project unfolds. Oh... and yes, it will contain my bunnies.

Sweet dreams, and don't let the undead toy keep you up... they just want to play.