my process for the willie nelson portrait

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


My sketch:


How I painted it:

willie nelson portrait

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

illustration friday - stir

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!

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

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

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!

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

work/life 2 video

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

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?