Fred Final

Here is the final for Fred. I ended up using acrylic and colored pencil. As I said before, the lines are quite angular but I believe they will be diffused and softened to accommodate the script. Trying to get 2 pages finished each week. No more personal projects for awhile, but it will feel so good to have this job finished.

"My cat tree....mine", purred Fred.

Fred the Cat

Here is one of the full-page spreads from the children's book I'm illustrating.

First rough thumbnail

Felt like the cat and cat tree should be bigger in the foreground.

Somewhere in the approving process, it was decided that we need to turn the pages landscape direction instead of profile. Has taken some time to re-do.

Final sketch.

Putting down some pattern and value and light color in Photoshop. Keeping this page more monochromatic with some touches of color. 

Still felt the cat needed more contrast in size. Also added one extra toy.  

We'll probably be fading the background after I paint this to accommodate for script. There is alot in this book. But for now, will print this out on my over-sized printer on watercolor paper and get to work.

Assignment for November

I am woefully behind on blogging. This mentorship has been keeping me very busy. And attending the workshop put me behind (no regrets and if you follow that link, Tara has given a great overview). I've been doing this online class for two months now. The assignment for November was from a guest professional,  Rubin Pfeffer. He asked us to produce a rough 32 page book dummy of a story written by Ann Whitford Paul and then develop one of the full page spreads as a sample. The story is titled, "In Animal CIty". I can't disclose any of  it since it's copyrighted but I can show you some of the roughs and my final color study for the sample page

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IMC 2011

This will be my 4th return to the Illustration Master Class held on the Amherst College campus in MA. This year, it has been organized slightly different from previous years. Like in the past, we are given the choice of assignments but this time we have to let them know which one so that the studios and faculty can be organized accordingly. This year, along with the fantastic lineup of core faculty, they have added Adam Rex and Jeff Mack as children's book instructors, as well as the return of James Gurney for a day, plus Mo Willem and Peter de Seve. Of course, along with these greats, Iain Mc Caig and Scott Allie will top off the fantasy/comic book instructors.

I've chosen the children's book assignment...in a way. I won't be using the title they suggested but bring a project I've had on the back burner for about 5 years. It's a perfect opportunity to develop the idea further and get professional advise on both the artwork and the story. I've been trying to develop a style for this book....somewhere between realistic and illustrative, captivating life and energy of my subject. Here is my first attempt. I think I need to work on making her look younger, but I'm somewhat happy with her character. I think I might leave the oils home this time too and use my trusty watercolors and colored pencils. My title for the book is:

"My Magic Doo-dah"

Cat Sketches

I have my first children's book commission. The author is a wonderful 72 year old lifetime educator. She's self-publishing which is an avenue many authors are taking these days. The title is A Grand Cat and it's based on the true story of Fred the cat. Right now I'm developing the storyboard and book dummy. I'm also playing around with the style and look of the illustrations. The author has given me a free rein in both. Right now, I'm simply studying cats and their expressions and anatomy. After I feel confident with that I will put the photo references away and develop a cat based on memory and characterization. That's the plan.