Chubby Broccoli

'the children get a package' spread

2012-01-09T23:23:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Although I was able to take a much needed short break over Christmas to spend some time with my family, I've been hard at work in my studio ever since. I'm so happy to announce that I'm almost finished the artwork for the picture book that I'm illustrating: Bye, Bye, Butterflies.

Today I'd like to share another sketch from the book. It's one of my favorites because I really enjoyed drawing all the little faces. In this scene, Charlie and his classmates have just returned to school from spring break and have found a package waiting for them. I thought it would be fun to show all the kids excitedly huddled together, looking down over the package. On the facing page, I drew the actual box.

The thumbnail:

The sketch of the children:

Other than a few adjustments, this image really didn't change that much.
The final spread looks like this:

I decided that since the children were looking down at the package, that it made more sense to show a top view of it. I also gave it a more dynamic placement.

the good stuff from 2011

2011-12-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

With all of the travel and adventure that I experienced in 2010, it was one of the best years of my life and will be pretty much impossible to top. Despite a severe lack of travel, 2011 has been really good in a different way. The stability of staying in one place has made it possible to have a proper studio again, with access to my art supplies and papers, computer, printer, scanner, drawing table, good lighting... all things I went without while we were traveling. I found ways to get around needing those things, but it's been nice to have everything at my fingertips again.

The beginning of 2011 saw us move to the city of Calgary, Alberta, into a fun, trendy, and central neighborhood. We settled into an apartment with a studio space and enjoyed staying in one place for a while. It was nice to reconnect with family and old friends. But we also made many new friends this year.

I did illustration work for a bunch of new clients. I got a part time job to get me out of the studio and to take some of the pressure off of illustrating. And I learned a ton about spices thanks to The Silk Road Spice Merchant. My favorite dish that I learned to make this year was Louisiana Shrimp Gumbo. Yum.

The biggest joy 2011 brought was definitely being commissioned by Fitzhenry & Whiteside to illustrate the picture book Bye, Bye, Butterflies. It's been a goal of mine to do that since I graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2002. It took 9 years, but I did it!

Happy New Year everyone!

the 'caterpillar' spread

2011-12-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little quiet on the blog as of late, but believe me when I say they've been quite busy in the studio. The picture book that I'm illustrating, Bye, Bye, Butterflies, is coming along nicely. I'm currently painting spreads and I look forward to sharing some of the finished, full color images down the road.

For now, I'm going to share another sketch.

I really struggled to find a solution for this particular spread. I didn't want to be literal and draw exactly what the text said so it was quite a challenge to come up with something that was a bit abstract but still appropriate. Probably because it was such a struggle, when I finally came up with my solution I was especially happy with the image.

Here it is:

It might not look like much here, but try to imagine a bunch of colorful and interesting caterpillars marching across the page in this lovely shape.

Unfortunately, this is the only place where it will see the light of day. Once I submitted my sketches to my editor, we realized that we needed to shuffle some things around and the only way to make it work was to combine this spread with another one. It broke my heart to have to change it as I really enjoyed the graphic shape moving across the page, but it was all for the greater good. The spread at the climax of the story now works much better because of this change.

This is what the new spread will look like:

alberta by numbers

2011-11-29T19:29:00.001-07:00

Today the postman brought me the December issue of AlbertaViews Magazine with my work illustrating the Alberta by Numbers section on the back page. It was a fun little assignment to do and the art director was great to work with.

Also today, after almost exactly 5 years, my blog has reached 100 followers.
Thanks for being interested in my work everyone. It means a lot to me :)

illustration friday - round

2011-11-26T10:13:00.001-07:00

Because of the all the work involved with the picture book, I really don't have time to create anything new for IF right now. But when I saw this week's topic, I immediately thought of this image of a very round lady that I painted last summer.

little girl in a red dress

2011-11-23T21:10:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I finished an illustration for the picture book that I'm working on and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'm not going to share the entire image right now, but here's a little peek at the bottom right corner:

illustration friday - vanity

2011-11-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

This image is an oldie but it's one of my favorites. It's more about the lack of vanity, but I think it's still appropriate for the theme.

the 'story time' spread

2011-11-07T23:16:00.001-07:00

Today I thought I'd share some sketches from the picture book that I'm working on and show how the spread has evolved.

Let me begin by setting the scene. The first part of this story takes place in the spring and the second part takes place one year later. Between those two parts, there is one spread that ties them together and that is the spread that I'm going to share today.

The text talks about the main character, Charlie, starting school, attending story time, going to gym class, and then the passing of the seasons. I really liked the idea of showing story time. I thought it would make a nice image to have the teacher in a classroom setting with books and a globe, reading to a bunch of students sitting on the floor around her.

Here's my first thumbnail:

The problem with this image is that it doesn't convey the passing of time. When a person reading the book turns that page, it has to feel like a year has passed and the above image doesn't convey that.

Showing some smaller spot illustrations helps to show the passing of time. Since we go from fall, to winter, to spring, I decided to show one scene for each season.

I moved my story time sketch over to the left side of the spread and changed it to include a window so that a tree with fall leaves could be seen. On the right side of the spread, I drew two small spot illustrations. After trying out many options, I decided to have Charlie and his friend making a snowman for the winter scene and Charlie jumping in a puddle for the spring scene. I like the variety of showing Charlie interacting with another character and also showing him by himself.

My next thumbnail:

The proper sketches:

(I thought it would be fun to have the pages that the teacher is reading be from an upcoming spread as a bit of foreshadowing :)

This is what the spread looks like:

Or it might look like this:

I'm still experimenting to see which layout works better with the text.

storyboards for Bye, Bye, Butterflies!

2011-10-31T17:58:00.000-06:00

I thought it might be interesting to show how much thought and work go into the early planning for the visuals for a book. Everyone works a bit differently, but this was my approach.

Once I had read the manuscript for Bye, Bye, Butterflies!, I started by making a lot of notes about the things in the story that stood out to me and the initial images that came to my mind. Then I doodled very rough layouts in small boxes to see what might work. I did a lot of those. Once I had an idea of which layouts seemed to work, I did slightly more refined drawings (but still quite rough) in little boxes that were scaled down from the actual size of the book. That way I could see all of the spreads for the book on one piece of paper and I could see how they would work together.

My storyboard went through several incarnations as I tried to work out the pacing and figure out the best visuals to tell the story. Once I was happy with it, I showed it to my editor who gave me very helpful feedback. Then I used the storyboard to create the proper sketches for the book.

Stay tuned for a peek at some of those...

just a peek

2011-10-22T18:35:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I completed two illustration projects that I've had on the go. Although I'm not showing them in their entirety until they're printed, here's a tiny peek...

charlie's teacher

2011-10-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

As promised, here's some more process from the picture book. This is some of the character development for Charlie's teacher.

From the start I envisioned her with hair that would take on a big, interesting shape. At first I was thinking she'd be a red head, but I didn't want her to steal the show from another red haired character in the story.

I played with some other options. I thought pig tails might be fun.

But in the end, the big shape stayed and I've decided to render her hair with graphite. I think it will make for a nice contrast with the paint I'll be using in the finals. (This last drawing of her is from one of the spreads from the book)

another exciting finalist...

2011-10-11T17:51:00.000-06:00

I was finally able to check the site to find out who the other Governor General award nominees were for children's illustration. Red Wagon, written and illustrated by Renata Liwska is also nominated! Renata's books are so beautiful and Red Wagon is especially creative in the way that she's combined the pictures with the text. Good luck Renata!

Every time I buy one of Renata's books for myself, I end up giving it away to a child I know (they make really great gifts), so I'm unable to provide any photos of the actual book. But check out Renata's website for a peak inside of Red Wagon, a lovely and imaginative book.

You can check out the other GG finalists here and here.

picture book - migrant

2011-10-11T16:41:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite illustrator's, Isabelle Arsenault, has been nominated for a Governor General Literary Award for her illustrations in the book Migrant, written by Maxine Trottier. I'm really excited by this because Migrant is one of the most beautiful and perfect picture books I've ever seen. The story is so lovely and the illustrations are the perfect compliment, substituting animals as metaphors for the characters and telling another story than the text does. The images are so well drawn and the style is very unique and beautiful. I love her use of a limited palette and the way she combines collage with graphite, watercolor and colored pencil. And check out those amazing end papers.

I picked up a copy last spring and it's one of my favorite books in my collection. Here are a few photos:

I'd like to see who else is nominated for picture book illustration, but the link doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

bye, bye, butterflies update

2011-10-09T11:45:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty excited because last night I finished all of the drawings for the picture book and made a very simple book dummy. Today I'm just going over everything and doing refinements before I submit the drawings to my editor. It's really good timing because after weeks of spending all of my available time on this project, I finally feel like I can take some time off to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with friends.

Stay tuned - I have some more visuals to share later this week :)

introducing charlie's dad

2011-10-02T12:20:00.000-06:00

When I first read the manuscript for Bye, Bye, Butterflies, the character of Charlie made me think of a drawing of a little boy that I had done in my sketchbook while I was living in Paris. That was what I started with when I was trying to figure out how Charlie would look.

I had no idea what Charlie's dad would look like, except for the fact that I knew I wanted him and Charlie to share a bit of a resemblance. Since this story is based on something that happened to the author, Andrew Larsen, and his son, my editor suggested that perhaps my character of Charlie's dad might resemble the author. I played around with that idea and ended up liking the result. I don't know that the drawing looks a lot like the author, which wasn't my goal, but it was inspired by his appearance in the one photo that I saw of him online.

library of the early mind

2011-09-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

I just got home from watching this documentary at the Central Library in downtown Calgary. I loved it. It was both moving and inspiring. As someone who hopes to have a career in picture books for children, this film gave me a lot to think about. Also, it's really interesting to see the faces of some very well known authors of children's literature. Lemony Snicket looks nothing like how I pictured him :)

You can view the trailer here.

would you like to meet the little boy who lives in my book?

2011-09-24T18:10:00.000-06:00

His name is Charlie and he's the main character in Bye, Bye, Butterflies.

mmm... tomatoes

2011-09-22T20:38:00.001-06:00

I LOVE tomatoes. They're one of my favorite things to eat, especially fresh ones from my mom's garden in the summer.

These lovely heirloom tomatoes were a gift from a friend of mine, purchased at a local farmers market. They're such a beautiful, dark color that I had to photograph them, and I'll eventually paint them. They were delicious too :)

now on facebook

2011-09-18T23:57:00.000-06:00

I've been a bit slow to make a Facebook Page for my illustration work. Some of the illustrators that I admire have them, and some don't. I wasn't sure if I needed one, but here's what I've come to realize: some people read blogs, some people are all about twitter and some people only use Facebook. There are people out there, such as some friends and family members, who are interested in following my progress with the picture book but they really only check their Facebook accounts. So I finally jumped on board and made a page tonight. There I will post little progress updates as well as links to longer blog posts here.

If you're a Facebook user, here's the link to my page, or you can scroll down and use the button on the right.

bye, bye, butterflies

2011-09-13T17:25:00.000-06:00

I've known about this since the end of July, but I didn't want to say anything until the contract had been signed. Now that it's all official, I'm so happy to announce that I'm illustrating a picture book with Canadian publishers Fitzhenry & Whiteside. It's a really great story called Bye, Bye, Butterflies by Andrew Larsen, who is the author of two other picture books for children: Bella and the Bunny and The Imaginary Garden, which was shortlisted for a Governer General Literary Award in 2009.

I'm still in the early stages of illustrating the book, but so far everything is coming together really well and I feel good about the direction that I'm going in. Although I have nothing to share today, I have been informed that I will be able to post about the illustrations as they unfold. I can't wait to share my process from this project and I'm so excited to be collaborating on such a great book!

new scanner / she walks like a teapot

2011-09-07T22:53:00.001-06:00

I finally got around to purchasing a new scanner this past weekend. My previous one produced terrible quality scans. See this post to see what I mean.

I bought the Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner and so far it works great. Does anyone else have this scanner and if so, any thoughts? I found a lot of reviews for it in terms of scanning photography, but I didn't find anything about how it works for scanning art.

I was finally able to scan my 'She walks like a teapot' image that I painted back in July. Here it is:

my latest promo

2011-08-29T16:33:00.000-06:00

This is the front side of a promotional postcard that I sent out last week. It's the image that was printed in the Work/Life 2 book. The back side is black and white and features the same characters doing another activity.

european picture book - la coda canterina

2011-08-14T22:51:00.000-06:00

Here's another book from the collection of picture books I picked up in Europe. I got this one from Italy last fall, and it's about a little boy with a tail.

I love the images in this book so much. They're simple and beautiful. I really love the contrast between the black and white textured areas of the drawings and the flat, graphic hits of red. It really inspires me to try adding flat graphic areas in my own work. Some of the drawings are a bit unusual and I enjoy that too :)

she walks like a teapot - another solution

2011-08-06T09:59:00.001-06:00

Here's another version of the lady who walks like a teapot.

I got a tablet for Christmas last year and when ever I have some free time, it's fun to play with combining digital elements and hand made textures / line work. I actually did this a few weeks ago, at the same time as I was working on the painted version.

I spent last week working on a really fun project for a client that had me playing with different techniques, and color palettes. I can't post about it yet, but once I get the go ahead, I have lots of process to share :)

And, of course there's still that exciting bit of news that I mentioned in a previous post. I'm just waiting for the contract to be signed before I share it.

she walks like a teapot - painted

2011-07-26T11:03:00.000-06:00

I played around with this image quite a bit last week and this is the painted version. I initially wasn't going to post it because the scan isn't very good, but since I put up the sketch yesterday I thought I should follow up with a color study. I also took a quick photo of the actual painting so you can see where some of the details are missing in the scan, like the flesh tone in her face. It's completely blown out in the scan.

scan:

photo:

she walks like a teapot

2011-07-25T17:09:00.000-06:00

Here's a recent sketch:

Just before returning to Canada last fall, we went back to Edinburgh, Scotland, to visit some friends. "She walks like a teapot," was a line that was said by our friend Melissa as a description for a lady she knew. I got a visual in my head immediately and did these sketches shortly after.

Then I forgot about it for a while and just recently decided it was time to bring my teapot lady to life.

july update

2011-07-25T10:58:00.000-06:00

I realize that things around the blog have been a bit quiet lately so I thought I should pop in for a quick update. The month of July has been a whirl of activity. We've had house guests, dinner parties, festivals, my nephew was born, and last week my husband and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary.

I have been sketching and painting as well, however I'm still having scanner problems :( I may have to bite the bullet and buy a new scanner that is only a scanner (as opposed the the all-in-one that I currently use). Can anyone recommend a really good scanner?

I also have some exciting new illustration projects in the works - more on that later.

printed maps

2011-07-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

Front and back of the postcard:

Design by Platform

technical difficulties

2011-07-11T19:06:00.001-06:00

I have a few images to show that I've been playing with during my recent studio time, but my scanner is giving me grief. Hopefully I'll have the problem solved soon, but until then, here's s sketch of a boy and a tree.

great way to spend a day

2011-07-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

As part of my husband's birthday gift (he turned 31 on Friday), I wanted to give him a full day of us hanging out and having fun. When we were traveling, we used to pick up snacks and spend an entire day just walking around, exploring new neighborhoods, drinking coffee... I wanted to do something similar in our own city so I chose the neighborhood of Inglewood, a cute and older part of town we haven't spent much time in.

It was great. Here's a recap:

• Saturday morning we picked up pastries from the French bakery near our house.

• ate them in lovely Central Memorial Park
• followed a path neither of us had ever taken along the elbow river into Inglewood
• spent some time browsing in a second hand bookstore
• went into all of the antique shops and cool furniture shops along 9th Avenue S.E.

• spent some time at Tea Trader learning about tea and smelling the different varieties. We bought two different types.

• had lunch at Spolumbo's - Italian spicy sausage on a bun with fresh tomato sauce and pickles on the side

• drank mojitos on a cute patio

• got a ride in a tiny convertible

• browsed around my favorite vintage shop in Calgary, Pretty Little Things, trying on hats and coveting a lovely refinished vanity.

• went to the recently opened Wurst and sampled some different beers.

sketchbook - pondering girl

2011-06-23T21:13:00.000-06:00

sketchbook - coffee snob

2011-06-21T14:09:00.000-06:00

Does anyone know the plural form of macchiato?

hand drawn map

2011-06-19T13:25:00.000-06:00

(click on the map to see it larger)

I love the look of hand drawn maps and have been wanting to try my hand at one for a while. I just completed this map for a local business, The Silk Road Spice Merchant, for a postcard they're printing to show their new location. They'll be moving a few blocks North of their current location onto 9th Avenue in Inglewood. That location will be opening the first week of July.

The map highlights some of the landmark buildings and businesses on 9th Avenue as well as shows where the new location is in relation to the old one. Because their business has an old world feel, I tried to do the same thing with the map. I'm eager to see how the finished printed piece will look.

The Silk Road Spice Merchant is a really great shop with lots of delicious spices and blends and anyone who likes to cook should check it out. And if you don't live in Calgary, they have a great website with beautiful photos and tons of great info, AND they ship across Canada.

tiny buildings

2011-06-13T16:18:00.000-06:00

Part of a project I'm working on...

portrait of claudia

2011-06-11T12:20:00.000-06:00

This is a portrait I did this past week as a thank you gift for our friend, Claudia. It's quite a bit more realistic than I like to work, but I had more trouble than usual getting a likeness. The more I reworked my sketch to get it to look like her, the more realistic it got. Hopefully she likes it.

I got a new scanner a few months ago and although I was initially quite happy with it, recently I've been finding that it doesn't pick up a lot of the more subtle nuances, colors and textures, especially stuff that I do in colored pencil, and the whites tend to look blown out. Does anyone have suggestions on how to deal with that? I've messed around with the settings but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Maybe that's the way it's always been and I just never noticed until now.

On an entirely different subject, a girl I know, Kimberly Wieting, makes really funky, strapless, cowgirl dresses from men's shirts. She's submitted her design to a local competition and is currently in 2nd place. If you like her design, I know she'd really appreciate the votes. It literally only takes about 5 seconds and you don't even have to register. You can vote once per day. Just click on this link.

flurry of activity

2011-06-05T18:23:00.000-06:00

More butterflies...

adventures in pasta making

2011-06-04T15:35:00.000-06:00

a couple days of sketching

2011-05-30T15:50:00.001-06:00

I've been pretty lucky the last few days in that I've been able to hang out and draw with some pretty talented illustrators.

Friday afternoon my sketch group was down to just Karen Klassen and myself. Despite the rain, it was a great afternoon of art books, chai tea, sketching and great conversation.

Saturday afternoon I met up with Mike Kerr and Renata Liwska for some coffee and drawing. Renata was even nice enough to sign a couple of books for me. After a few hours of sketching with them, I left feeling happy and inspired. Thanks guys :) You can read Renata's post about it here.

today's sketchbook activity...

2011-05-24T19:24:00.000-06:00

new work in today's parent magazine

2011-05-23T10:25:00.000-06:00

This is a small editorial illustration that I did a few months ago for the June issue of Today's Parent magazine:

freckle juice

2011-05-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

This is a personal piece I just finished, inspired by Judy Blume's short novel, Freckle Juice. I realized that I needed more black and white work for my portfolio and I chose Freckle Juice because I wanted to illustrate a story that hasn't been overdone so that I wouldn't be influenced by existing imagery.

There are a couple of process photos below.

recent sketchbook activity - characters

2011-05-20T19:58:00.000-06:00

sketches of bottles

2011-05-17T19:28:00.000-06:00

inspiring interview

2011-05-17T11:28:00.001-06:00

I just read a really good interview with illustrator Carson Ellis over at 7 Impossible Things. I've been in love with her beautiful pen, ink, gouache and graphite illustrations for a while now as well as her gift for telling stories with her images. Her style is clean and simple yet detailed and delicate. I recently read Dillweed’s Revenge: A Deadly Dose of Magic and was so impressed by the balance between words and pictures. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a well illustrated picture book with an unconventional story. You can read the interview here.

recent sketchbook activity - boys

2011-05-13T11:24:00.000-06:00

letterpress print by meg hunt

2011-05-10T13:52:00.000-06:00

I just got the most fantastic delivery from the postman. A few weeks ago, I finally ordered a letterpress print from Meg Hunt that I had been coveting for a while. It arrived today!

It was really fun to open the package and not only find her lovely print, but also a few unexpected bits. She threw in a hand written note as well as some business cards with her beautiful work on them. Thanks Meg!

I've been a fan of Meg's unique and vibrant illustrations for a long time. I can't wait to frame this and put it up in my studio.

bowl of soup thank you card - final

2011-05-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

bowl of soup thank you card

2011-05-05T19:23:00.000-06:00

Last summer I had an idea to make a Get Well Soon card where the letters in a bowl of soup spelled out the message. I did several sketches in my sketchbook, but I never actually got around to painting it. This past winter I revived the idea, but made it into a Thank You card. I recently painted a version of it in my sketchbook, where I'm still experimenting with colored pencils.

I'll post the final version tomorrow. Until then, here's some of the process:

website buttons

2011-05-04T21:43:00.000-06:00

I made these buttons the other day for my website.

steam clock print

2011-05-03T20:50:00.001-06:00

This is the beautiful photo that I mentioned in the previous post. I got it from Vancouver based photographer, Tracey Ayton, in a recent art trade:

It was really hard to chose as Tracey has so many beautiful photos, but I'm really happy with it. I think it's such a nice image and that it will look great framed in our living room. You can read Tracey's post about our trade here.

family portrait

2011-05-01T19:17:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted a glimpse of a portrait I had done. That piece was part of a trade that I did with Vancouver based photographer, Tracey Ayton. Her website is full of really beautiful photographs. You should definitely take a look.

Here is the entire portrait of Tracey, her husband and her dog, followed by some photos I took of the painting process:

***************************************************************************************

I had wanted to post an image of the beautiful photo I got from Tracy, but my camera batteries are dead. You'll just have to wait :)

an afternoon of sketching

2011-04-30T10:47:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I met with my sketch group for the first time in several months. It was so nice to just drink coffee, and chat, and sketch. Thanks guys for the great conversations, the feedback and the encouragement :) I always feel so refreshed and inspired after spending some time with them.

I drew some butterflies, experimented with their shape and pattern. I prefer the ones with a more bulbous shape to the more realistic ones. I think the purple butterflies on the top left turned out the best.

I also just wanted to say congratulations to my friend, Karen Klassen, for having some work chosen for Lürzer's 200 Best Illustratiors Worldwide book.

my latest promo

2011-04-27T21:38:00.000-06:00

These went out in the mail yesterday.

european picture books - pralinky pro sousedku

2011-04-25T20:48:00.000-06:00

I bought this picture book in the Czech Republic when we were there last June. I found the design to be quite charming, as well as the color scheme and the characters.

today's sketchbook activity: assorted characters

2011-04-23T17:16:00.002-06:00

Experimenting with head shapes, sizes, hair...

tea time continued

2011-04-19T20:38:00.000-06:00

what i'm working on - tea time

2011-04-19T16:46:00.000-06:00

I've an idea for a series of thank you cards for a while now so I thought I'd start painting them up. This one is 'Tea Time' and it's just done in my sketchbook. I'm experimenting with using colored pencils on a layered acrylic painting.

Also, the Uppercase Work/Life 2 iPhone app is now available. Check it out - it's free.

just a peek

2011-04-17T18:41:00.000-06:00

I really love productive days in the studio and this week I've had several. I find that with household duties that regularly need to be done, coupled with the general running of errands, my studio days can easily get away from me. I end up not spending as much time actually making art as I intend to.

But not this week.

I've managed to get quite a bit done and I'm feeling pretty good about that. I even finished a trade piece I was working on, a portrait.

Here's a small peek:

I'll post the whole image as well as my process once the recipient receives the painting in the mail. I don't want to spoil the surprise by putting it up here before she gets it :)

recreated childhood photos

2011-04-16T08:40:00.000-06:00

© Irina Werning

Yesterday, my boss at my part-time job showed me the fantastic website of Argentinian photographer Irina Werning. She takes old photos of people from when they were children and re-creates the exact shot with the same person as an adult. The effect of the two photos side by side is so entertaining. If you have a few minutes to kill, I highly recommend checking out this site: http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

european picture books - welterusten iedereen

2011-04-10T20:52:00.001-06:00

While my husband and I were traveling around Europe I made a point of spending time in book stores in every country that we visited. I wanted to see the kinds of images that were being created for picture books in different countries. I was really inspired by what I saw; European illustrators make beautiful, imaginative and experimental imagery. I collected books throughout our journey and posted about some of them here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Welterusten iedereen by Edward van de Vendel and Sebastiaan Van Doninck (check out his incredible work here) is a picture book that I picked up in Brussels, Belgium, last winter. It's a beautiful and colorful book filled with imaginative images about the dreams of the sleeping people in a town. I was really taken with the characters and the narrative quality of the illustrations. Of all the books I purchased on our trip, this is one of my favorites.

presentation this morning - book launch tonight

2011-04-07T16:24:00.002-06:00

The presentation that I mentioned preparing for the other day took place this morning and I think it went well. As usual, I was over thinking it, and obsessing over my content, and worrying that I hadn't included enough visual interest. But the student's seemed interested and as soon as I got there the relaxed atmosphere of the class put me at ease. Thank you to Mike Kerr and Charles Bell for inviting me to speak and for the coffee and conversation that followed :)

Check out this blog which features some of the student's work as well as the work of ACAD Visual Communications alumni.

During my presentation I mentioned a Belgian illustrator that my husband and I stayed with during our trip to Brussels. His name is Pieter Fannes and he's a really talented illustrator and cartoonist with a unique visual voice. Here's a link to his flicker page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bos_aap_bos/

I love this sketch he did of my husband sleeping on their couch:

© Pieter Fannes

And this cartoon he sent us about Canadians (click on it to see it bigger):

© Pieter Fannes

Tonight is the book launch and reception for the Work/Life 2 book. You can read the write up for the event on the Uppercase blog here.

april update

2011-04-05T12:20:00.000-06:00

• Some recent sketchbook play:

• Here's a peak at some sketches of children I recently did for an editorial illustration, but I won't be able to show the final until the magazine comes out in June. Stay tuned.

• I've also had a few other projects on the go, including a trade piece that's not quite finished and some new postcards.

• I've been working on a presentation I'll be doing at the Alberta College of Art and Design on Thursday. It's on the topic of travel and art and I'll be showing the students my travel journals. I hope they find it interesting and useful.

• The Work/Life book launch and reception is also this Thursday, April 7th, from 5 to 9 at Uppercase in Art Central here in Calgary. Any local people reading this should drop in to check out the books and all the cool art. I also hear there will be cup cakes :)

• After over 2 months of living in this apartment, we finally put our art up on the walls. It makes such a big difference - our home is much cozier now :)

(art from left to right by Lisa Mizeri, Jason Mathis, Jennifer Melrose and A. Widman).

my spread in the work/life 2 book

2011-03-28T13:00:00.000-06:00

We had guests staying with us this weekend so I didn't get to read very much of the content from the Work/Life book. I have, however, flipped through it quite extensively and am really impressed with some of the illustration work inside. There's a lot of really good illustrators who's work I'd never seen before.

I can't wait to sit down later today with a cup of tea and read through it :)

my actual piece in the work/life II book:

2011-03-26T12:01:00.000-06:00

There was a bit of a mix up and it's actually the above image, Story Time, that was published in Uppercase's Work/Life II and not the Willie Nelson portrait. Just thought I'd clear that up since the book is now available and is being shipped. I received my copy yesterday and will be posting a photo of the spread. The book looks great :)

website update

2011-03-22T08:50:00.001-06:00

I just finished a big update to my illustration portfolio website - a BIG thank you goes out to my husband who did all the coding.

The look of the site hasn't changed, but I added a bunch of new sections (such as a separate one for my editorial work, and a section for my travel books) and swapped out some older pieces in favor of newer stuff. Check it out: www.jacquelinehudon.com

my process for the willie nelson portrait

2011-03-20T09:51:00.001-06:00

This is what the final art looks like for the Work/Life 2 book:

My sketch:

How I painted it:

willie nelson portrait

2011-03-16T22:52:00.001-06:00

This is the image that I created for the Work Life 2 book:

illustration friday - stir

2011-03-15T18:47:00.000-06:00

This is a painting that I started last summer while we were in Sarajevo. It was the last one that I did before we moved and I ended up being a bit rushed to finish it. Since then, every time I've looked at it I've been more and and more unhappy with it. I decided a while ago that I wanted to re-work it and with this week's IF's topic being 'stir', today seemed like the perfect time.

work/life 2 is done!

2011-03-15T11:09:00.000-06:00

I'm participating in a book called Work/Life 2 and am so excited that it is now available. The preview pages on the Uppercase website look great. I can't wait to get my copy and see it it person :)

The book launch and reception will be on the First Thursday in April, from 4pm - 8pm, at the Uppercase Gallery in Art Central here in Calgary. Any local people reading this should check it out.

Tomorrow I'll post the illustration that I contributed to the book.

Cover illustration by Alyssa Nassner

some fun mail arrived today

2011-03-14T21:53:00.000-06:00

It's the invitation I illustrated for our friends in Switzerland. I'm not sure why it looks so yellow in this photo. It's actually printed on shimmery cream colored paper and looks lovely in person.

sketchbook activity

2011-03-13T18:58:00.000-06:00

Someone once told me:
"If everything in your sketchbook looks good, you're doing it wrong."
I'm trying to keep that in mind as I experiment with media that I'm less familiar with.

library love / here comes the garbage barge!

2011-03-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

I recently got a library card and have been having the best time signing out tons of children's books. I can't believe I've gone without one for so long! There are so many books, especially picture books, that I've read about over the years and wanted to take a look at. I have a pretty decent sized collection myself, but I can't afford to buy every book that I'm curious about. It's been really great to poor through so many fantastic books.

One such book is Here Comes the Garbage Barge! by Jonah Winter. The illustrations are by Red Nose Studio, one of my favorite illustrators, and he did an amazing job on this, his first picture book. Great characters, colors, compositions, hand drawn type...

I was checking out his blog today and saw a really cool video about how he created the images for the book. I love glimpses at other illustrator's process, and I especially enjoy his since it's so drastically different from my own. Check it out here.

today i played with colored pencil and water color

2011-03-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

work/life 2 video

2011-03-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

Check out this video, a preview of the Work/Life 2 Book, on the Uppercase Blog. At 00:15, in the bottom right corner of the screen, that's a photos of me sketching, and the spiral bound sketchbook with the drawing of buildings and the coffee stains is mine too :)

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful book - I can't wait to see it.

education

2011-03-01T10:15:00.002-07:00

Although this piece is mostly hand done, there are some digital elements. I'm enjoying the contrast between the digital and the hand drawn. Any thoughts?

what I'm working on...

2011-02-28T23:00:00.001-07:00

6 boxes of paint, brushes, pastels, pencil crayons, paper, canvas...

2011-02-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

When my husband and I decided to go traveling a couple of years ago, my parents were kind enough to store our stuff for us. Since our return, when ever a member of my family comes to the city, they bring a load of our stuff. A couple of days ago I got my drawing table and the last of my art supplies so today was spent unpacking, cleaning and putting everything away. It feels really good to have a clean, fully stocked studio. Can't wait to get to work in the morning :)

I also spent some time tonight tweaking the design of my blog. Nothing drastic, but I think it looks much better now.

one of my favorite travel quotes:

2011-02-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

I've been finishing up some loose ends in my 3rd and final travel journal, things like coloring in letters that I had drawn but hadn't had time to finish, gluing in some bits of paper, filling in a map with all the places that we visited... I've already posted some pages from my first 2 journals (here, here and here; and here, here and here), but because it wasn't finished I haven't posted anything from this one.

I'm also trying to scan my travel journals so that I can have a section just for them on my website. I'll let you know when I get it done.

erin boake

2011-02-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

© Erin Boake

Calgary based painter and good friend of mine, Erin Boake, recently started a blog. Check it out. You can also see more of her work here.

cloud nine

2011-02-16T20:43:00.004-07:00

(see the process photos in the previous post)

what i'm working on

2011-02-15T11:32:00.002-07:00

happy valentines day!

2011-02-14T10:40:00.001-07:00

book cover

2011-02-13T16:46:00.003-07:00

While we were living in Edinburgh, I was asked if one of my sketches could be used as the cover art for a collection of short stories titled 'Argentinos Stories' by Mariana Dietl. She said that "the accordion is a powerful symbol in my native country, very associated to tango and to the country's inherent melancholy." She said that my illustration portrayed exactly what she tried to portray in her stories: sadness and melancholy all mixed up with a certain lightness and playfulness.

I had my copies of the book sent to my parent's address in Saskatchewan where they stayed for almost a year, until we returned to Canada. I finally saw the physical books this past Christmas but hadn't gotten around to posting about them until now.

man in spotted coat

2011-02-08T15:19:00.002-07:00

messing around in my sketchbook...

2011-02-07T13:41:00.002-07:00

sketchbook ladies

2011-02-06T15:07:00.002-07:00

twitter

2011-02-03T21:25:00.001-07:00

I recently joined twitter. Follow me by clicking here.

illustration friday

2011-02-01T13:38:00.006-07:00

What a great day this is turning out to be!
Thank you to Illustration Friday for mentioning me on their blog.
Check it out here.

uppercase community profile

2011-02-01T10:13:00.003-07:00

Check out my profile in the Community section of the Uppercase website. It's actually been up for a while but I never got around to blogging about it. (The bio needs an update now - I submitted it last summer when we were still living in Sarajevo)

wedding invitation

2011-01-29T13:44:00.005-07:00

russian cossack dancing

2011-01-29T11:35:00.004-07:00

I just saw the most fantastic video over at Deanna Staffo's blog. She's a really talented illustrator so if you're not familiar with her work you should definitely check it out. The video features Russian Cossack dancing set to Run DMC and it's awesome. I love Russian culture - their traditional costumes and music, the vibrant colors, the fur hats, the thick mustaches, the crazy acrobatic dancing, nesting dolls, Saint Basil's Cathedral... Russia is definitely at the top of my list of countries to visit.

back to work

2011-01-29T00:05:00.001-07:00

This past week has been a good one as I've managed to get myself fairly organized. Now that I'm back in Canada and settled in an apartment, it's time to get to work.

I've managed to get myself a part time job and although I've always done illustration work on the side, I will now be doing it three full days per week. And I'm so excited about that :) I did a lot of work on my portfolio while we were traveling and now I just want to promote it and see what happens.

I've been adding to my mailing list, double checking the addresses I already have, and sending out more of the postcards that I had printed in November. I've also been working on a couple of small projects: a logo/identity and a wedding invitation. Today I met with my old sketch group which was just the perfect way to cap off the week.

random sketchbook stuff

2011-01-21T23:03:00.002-07:00

bowl of cherries

2011-01-20T18:40:00.002-07:00

january update

2011-01-18T16:38:00.002-07:00

Things have been quite chaotic lately, but everything is finally starting to come together...

After much deliberation, my husband and I decided to move back to our former city, Calgary. We just moved into an apartment and are still getting settled, but most of the boxes are unpacked and we now have a phone and internet connection. It feels so good to have a home again! Traveling was exciting and inspiring and such an incredible learning experience, but constantly moving from place to place for a year and a half is also quite exhausting. It's nice to know that we'll be here for a while now, as we recharge our batteries and save up for our next adventure.

Our apartment is big enough that I have a studio space again. It's nothing fancy but it's something I didn't think I'd have so I'm really excited about it. I've missed having a place to work where I could spread out and where I didn't have to be putting my supplies away all the time.

It's good to be back :)

grandpa

2011-01-12T10:29:00.003-07:00

I remember being a little girl at my grandparent's farm for Easter. It was just before bed time and we were sitting in the dining room. My grandpa looked out the window into the dark and said he saw the Easter Bunny. He then jumped out of his seat and ran out into the yard in hot pursuit. I remember being so excited at the idea that the elusive Easter Bunny was outside in the yard and I was going to see him. When grandpa returned there was a bite mark on his finger. I guess that's what happens when you try to catch the Easter Bunny.

That's my favorite memory of my grandfather. Rest in peace.

the good stuff from 2010

2011-01-05T22:07:00.004-07:00

• visited 12 countries and learned a little of the language in each one

• lived in 4 of those countries

• made many good friends

• learned more history that I ever did in high school

• had amazing cultural experiences

• milked goats

• turned 30 in Paris

• produced a ton of new work, more than I have ever produced before in a year

• continued to develop my style and experienced lots of artistic growth

• expanded my client base to include the UK

• learned how to make stuffed paprike from a Bosnian man

• celebrated my 3rd wedding anniversary

• spent 2 weeks cooking with an Italian woman

2010 was an incredible year for me. It will be interesting to see what 2011 has in store. Happy New Year everyone!

happy holidays!

2010-12-24T11:36:00.001-07:00

story time

2010-12-20T11:17:00.001-07:00

baking

2010-12-18T18:56:00.002-07:00