Illustration Friday - Garden

I've not been feeling too well, so here is a birthday post card that I just did for my niece and I thought it would fit well with the IF theme of garden. I'm looking forward to Spring, not our mud-season spring necessarily, but the part of Spring where the flowers start poking out their little heads again, birds begin singing, and I can shed my coat and walk outside again. ahhh.

Illustration Friday - Leap

Here is a literal version of Leapfrog, my submission for this week's Illustration Friday. I liked the idea of childhood games like hopscotch, marbles (does anyone play them anymore), and of course leapfrog, although not usually with a frog the size of a small child, which would be pretty scary!

What do you think? Looking for some constructive criticism here -- I would really like to improve my pieces and am looking for advice from those of you with experience!! Thanks!

Illustration Friday - Multiples

My husband got a Lego Mindstorms Robot from Santa this year. And he and the girls really love building the robot to do different things. Our eldest daughter was hoping she could build him to make her bed, but unfortuately he's a little too short to do that right now. But knowing her, she'll come up with some way to create a robot to serve her needs. I just hope that the robots don't have the AI to build a robot for themselves, and so on and so on ala Mickey in Fantasia.

So, this is my submission for Illustration Friday - With Mulitple Robots, come multiple troubles.

Monday Artday - Getting Ready

Here is my submission to Monday Artday - Getting Ready. Getting ready to ... grow up? Hopefully, I can stave that off for a while longer!

Also, take a look at the Featured Illustrator, she's got some new work posted. Pretty creative!

Illustration Friday - Theory

I must admit, I felt a little stumped how to approach "theory." I automatically thought of calculus but decided I wanted to try something a little less common. So, the theory I came up with was the theory that I used to explain life to my baby brother - that he was born from a monkey and a crocodile, and that's why he cried, chewed on everything, and climbed all over the walls. He eventually realized that I wasn't being exactly honest with him, but thankfully we're still close despite my deception. I drew the image with my daughters in mind, seeing the similarities between me and my little brother and my eldest daughter and her baby sister.

Monday Artday - Half-Beast

I've known a few half-beasts, but thankfully the beast side stays hidden most of the time.

Illustration Friday - Blanket

A little girl and her trusty blanket...


A big girl and her trusty blanket.....

Illustration Friday - Tales and Legends

Who's that tripping over my bridge?

One of my favorite tales is that of the three Billy Goats Gruff. The troll was so creepy, and the biggest billy goat saves the day! Yeah! Here is my rendition.... thoughts?

Monday Artday - Transition

I posted this for the Monday Artday theme of transition. This illo shows transition from sleeping to waking, from dark to light, and from white to color. (I also used this for the Letter of the Week - Lethargic Leopard).

Letter of the Week

After struggling to come up with ideas to draw for my daughter, I was inspired. Each week at school, they focus on a particular letter of the alphabet. So, now I try to draw a picture that revolves around that letter. It's much easier to come up with an illustration when I have something to inspire the idea. I've posted some examples: Rat Race, Lounge Lizard, and Horrible Hangnail. Again, most of these are done in ink, and watercolor.

Doodles

Everyday I put together little drawings for my daughter, slipped into her lunchbox. She enjoys them immensely. Every morning she runs to her lunchbox to see what I've drawn for her.

I've posted a few of the ones she seemed to enjoy the most. I must admit. It's a great exercise. I'm somewhat "forced" to make one, whether I feel in the mood or not. It gives me the chance to practice different techniques, and focus on different aspects that I am trying to improve. Most of these are done in ink, and watercolor.

Cupid has cooties

Poor Cupid. He's both a boy and a valentine. Apparently, he has cooties too. I was working on an anti-valentine image. Here are the two sketches I came up with. (By the way, I actually LOVE Valentine's Day. You can't go wrong when chocolate, flowers and admissions of love are all around!!)

So what do you think? Is one image better than the other? Are the images flat, or are they engaging? I'm always torn between pieces that are simple, or more detailed ones. Are the poses natural, or awkward? Any constructive criticism? I'll try not to be offended. :-)