Watercolor Wednesdays - It was a dark and stormy night

"It was a dark and stormy night" is the theme for the new Watercolor Wednesdays group. This is a great opportunity for me to work with other children's illustrators in drawing to a theme.

I've been wanting to add pieces with anthropomorphic characters, as well as show story sequences so I'm going to work on some classic fairytales pieces.

Since the theme is "a dark and stormy night" I thought I'd place Little Red Riding Hood in a dark and stormy woods. I found the stormy part a little hard to do. Any suggestions for how to achieve the look of "stormy"?

I also wanted to make Red a little hispanic girl. I'm not sure it really looks like that.... Thoughts?

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. :-)