Sugar frosted goodness

I've been off the blogging radar for the last couple of weeks! My major apologies to followers of my "Rosie my last pet portrait" project and my "schoolgirls" from-sketch-to-final project. Those will be picked back up after Dec. 6th!

I've been laying low for good reason - I am furiously getting prepared to vend at the upcoming Bazaar Bizarre Boston! This is one of THE annual premiere holiday art markets in Boston. I am so excited to be a part of it this year. It will be my first time at the Bazaar Bizarre. I will proudly be vending with the fabulous local group of Etsy artists, Boston Handmade.

Each item in these photos is handmade, and all of the illustrations used on the ornaments is of my own original illustrations, including the hand-drawn lettering.

Just for fun, here are some of the pencil sketches of the lettering... so you can see my process a bit..

I've only made a handful of each ornament design (labor intensive!) and once they are gone, they are gone -- so if you see something you like... you know the rest. ;)

Hope you enjoy!

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From sketch to final, part 5

I've decided to concentrate more on the black line work, instead of planning for a lot of texture and detail in the coloring stage and leaving a lot of white space where I was planning for pattern or texture later on. So I've added details to the girls' clothes, the bench. I also started this composition with an idea of what would be behind our hero but nothing even sketched out. So I have addressed that. Lastly, I revised some anatomy: the legs and positioning of them on the far left girl look much more natural now. I also gave her a larger head. The middle girl's legs below the knee are longer now, so she is now more proportionate.

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From sketch to final, part 4

I have "inked" the art in Flash. I drew in the middle "huddle" girl, but found that she was not working in the composition. No matter what I tried she was off, but then I tried it without her, and I liked it so much better in every way. I like the idea of having one more girl; I think it's good for the story the picture tells-- three has an even stronger "us vs. them" vibe. But I thought this worked as well-maybe a little subtler, but still successful. Plus, the looks on their faces is very important-expressions say a lot. To that end, for the middle girl, I am aiming for a slightly annoyed, slightly bored, kind of snotty, glazed-over, ***SIGH*** expression. The girl on the left is just completely engrossed in what she's saying.. And of course, for our hero to the right, I am looking for a two-thirds abhorring, one-third wistful expression.

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From sketch to final, part 3

Here is my pencil sketch scan brought into Flash, where I did more compositional sketching, adding two more girls to the left. My goal for the illustration is to show that the main character is a loner and is left out of the popular group. I always had the idea to add more tension by adding additional characters, so there is something of a huddle of girls to the left, and then the loner girl to the rightbut I didn't sketch it all together until I brought it into Flash.

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From sketch to final, part two

I have sketched out the girl standing to the left. In future revisions, the standing girl will have company.

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Rosie portrait sketch

Here is a sketch of Rosie (my final pet portrait). This one is a little more detailed than the blocking sketch. It's not incredibly detailed though. The goal here is to lay everything out, including the small details, with a little more definition. For instance, we now have seagulls holding up Rosie's name banner (a great idea that Rosie's mom had). There are the requested crabs and tennis ball in the portrait now. there is even a defined area where my signature lives-this too has been worked out as part of the overall plan. Some serendipitous surprises are nice during inking and painting, but not when it comes to the bones of the work. I like to have a good, solid foundation on which to build.

The next step will be the finished watercolor pencil sketch!

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From sketch to final

Follow along with me as I turn this sketch into a finished illustration.

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