Something New

I'm finally posting something new. This was going to be my post for Illustration Friday last week, but I didn't get it finished. Pretty ironic considering the theme was "Early".  I haven't been able to get much done for the past several weeks, but now that school is out for the summer I hope that I will be able to make up for lost time in the next few months. Time to get serious again. I have joined a critique group and have several new pieces I'm working on for my portfolio. I am also still working on my recipe piece. Things are taking me much longer to get done right now. Just too much going on I guess. Maybe I'll even get my IF entry done this week. Wish me luck!  Thanks for visiting and thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it! Reading what you have to say makes me smile.

Recipe layout WIP pt 2

Ok, so I'm still not done. I have made a little more progress.  I think I may have fixed the bottle issue, but it may still stand out too much.  Keep in mind that this is an in progress piece. There are several other elements that I still want to add and I may end up moving things around. I also will add shadows  and maybe some textures and lighting. I'm kind of figuring it out as I go, it's not how I usually work, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it when I started. I don't know,  I may get it done and hate it. I know I am spending way too much time on it, but I don't seem to be able to stop working on it, so it will be sad if I end up not liking it.  Whether I end up liking it or not though it's good to do something your not used to sometimes.  

School will be out soon and I'll have more time to get some things done, maybe. We've had testing, testing and more testing.  I'm also taking Myles to CVI for classes once a week now, which is why I am up way too late tonight working on this.   Thanks for visiting and for taking the time to let me know what you think. I am going to take a break on this one tomorrow and work on Illustration Friday's prompt for this week, it's almost Wednesday and I haven't even started yet...

Recipe layout WIP

So, this is what I have been working on for the "They Draw and Cook" project.  It is however, taking me forever to complete. I am creating each element separately so that I can play around with the placement and use them for other projects.  I am also working on other pieces, but it is taking much longer than I had hoped it would.  Yes,  I know I am going overboard; I just can't seem to help it. I wanted to do some cute  simple sketchy thing and ended up with ridiculousness! But it's kinda fun making all the food and the point of wanting to use the food for other things makes it worthwhile I guess. I would love to get done with it though.  I'd love to then do some simple sketchy thing for another recipe, but if I never get this one finished that isn't likely to happen. : ) Meanwhile, I have many other projects going at once.  I like to make myself start and finish one project at a time and usually, well for the past year and a half anyway, this is what I have done, but this month has been so chaotic and it is being reflected in my work habits. I do plan to make myself finish them all. I really do! Maybe if I say it enough it will actually happen... Maybe

Thanks for stopping by and to those of you who leave comments, thank you for supporting me.  I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think.

IF-Fearless

This weeks prompt for Illustration Friday is Fearless. I haven't been able to get anything completed recently. Actually I have hardly had time to draw at all. Cyan(my 14 year old) had testing all week long the week before last and then last week I had appointments all week long and though I have several pieces started I just couldn't seem to get one of them done. I was so tired this weekend I didn't even pick up a pencil. So, today I started a new one.  I'll have to make myself go back and finish the others though. But for this one I decided that my grandson is the most fearless person I know and  my daughter has wanted me to do a new illustration of him for months now. I haven't done one since he was a baby and it was actually my first digital illustration. I decided to post them both to see how much I have progressed in a year and a half. I did the bottom one the day I first tried a trial version of painter and fell in love with the program. Actually, I think I used painter essentials for that one or whatever version came with my Wacom. 

So, I decided to do a new illustration of my fearless grandson.  My grandson is blind, he sees a little light and shape in extreme contrast. But, you would never know it to see him. Like any other 2 1/2 year old he runs, climbs, jumps, and meddles in and on everything. Most children who are visually impaired tend to be cautious and fearful of the unknown. But Myles has no fear, he investigates everything around him with gusto and most of the time with only the slightest encouragement he is willing to try anything new. He absolutely amazes me on a daily basis. Any way this is my fearless boy, Myles the Magnificent! Sorry I am behind on posting new work, hopefully I will get caught up soon.  Thank you for visiting and for all the supportive and kind comments that you leave! You all rock; I love it and appreciate it!

IF_Cocoon

This weeks prompt for Illustration Friday is Cocoon.  I've got another crazy week so just a quick one this time.  This is the first illustration that I have done on my new computer. I also used CS5 for the first time and painter 11. The illustration isn't my favorite but I'm in love with the computer and new programs. The learning curve isn't going to be bad at all. The Mac is so easy I haven't had any problems with it yet and the new version of photoshop is wonderful. Of course I am going from CS2 to CS5 so there was a pretty good gap.
Before I forget again I need to list the lie from my Award post a while back. Several of the answers were partial truths. #3 was mostly true but I did try to paint and draw a few times during that 10 years I just didn't have the time or the patience with 2 small children to make enough of an effort and felt like I had lost my ability to draw. #4 was half true, no championships yet ; ). #7 I wish...
...the part about an author/illustrator was true though.  I can't remember his name, but he left a lasting impression on me.  That leaves # 5, which is so crazy it has to be true. I not only heard this from my grandparents, but also from the daughter of the man who was left tied up over night. The rest of the story is that my grandmother gave me that ring and I wore it every single day. When she gave it to me I thought it was too large, not my color  and so not me, but it was from her and because of that I adored it. Well, when I was sick and having radiation my fingers kept shrinking and swelling, but I stubbornly kept wearing my jewelry even though there were days when it would fall off.  So, of course, one day when I was feeling productive, I was cleaning and tossing things out and my ring fell off into the garbage bag(or so we think) and needless to say that is the day my hubby was especially helpful and efficient and took the bag to the dump immediately. We searched for days and never found it. I still get upset just thinking about it. I think that is the most I have ever cried over a possession. Now all I have is the story : (