Illustration Friday - Confined

Hansel prepares to trick the witch.

I chose to illustrate a scene in Hansel and Gretel. The witch has put Hansel in a cage and is fattening him up. Her eyesight is poor, so every day she she feels Hansel's finger to see if he is fat enough to eat. He tricks her by putting out a bone instead of his finger.

I am teaching myself Photoshop and experimenting with color. This is the drawing I colorized:

My son Christopher posed for this drawing. He loves drama and was happy to pretend he was locked in a cage and needed to trick the witch into thinking he was thin. I took a photo of his pose and used it as reference. Here is the photo:

Lost in Space

This piece was inspired by the Illustration Friday prompt Pioneer. I started to think about how the American settlers brought household items from home with them. I then thought about how much stuff I have and what a hassle it is to move. Which led me to think about space pioneers. What will the first settlers to Mars want to bring from home? Will they overpack? Will they bring foolish items? Will they need to discard household items in space?

I made line drawings of household items and scanned them in. I then manipulated and arranged the drawings in Photoshop Elements. I didn't understand layers before this exercise but now I do, so at least I developed a new skill.

Illustration Friday - Unbalanced

On Wednesday evening of last week, Mrs. Thea Gilberston from the town of Franklin was ajudged insane by Judge J.D. Perry and was taken to Mendota State Asylum on the Thursday afternoon train by Sherriff Buckley (Badger State Banner, April 13, 1893).

The above quote is from the wonderfully strange Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy, which chronicles crime and insanity in the 1890's in Wisconsin. I drew this portrait from imagination in pastel and charcoal on a watercolor-toned board and then adjusted in Photoshop Elements.

Illustration Friday - Blur

As Albert aged, he found the years passed by in a blur.

I drew this from life using pencil, scanned it in, cropped it, and added color in Photoshop Elements.

Skull and Watch

I drew the skull and watch from life in pencil, and then I adjusted the color in Photoshop Elements.

Illustration Friday - Modify

After the wizard's apprentice turned his little sister into a cat, she howled with delight.

I have been itching to make a drawing that combines human features with animal ones. The prompt modify was a perfect opportunity. I combined two photo references into one graphite drawing and then tinted the drawing with color in Photoshop Elements.

Illustration Friday - Pale

I started with this drawing from life, which I manipulated in Photoshop Elements.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, to my dad and to all dads everywhere! This is the card I created for my father this year. It is colored pencil over watercolor and is based on a photograph of a sunflower from our garden. I used 140 lb cold pressed watercolor paper. This is the first time I applied colored pencil over watercolor, and I really like this technique. It really speeds up the colored pencil work. I learned about this technique in Colored Pencil Explorations by Janie Gildow. This book presents a number of multimedia approaches to colored pencil (e.g., combining colored pencil with watercolor, pastel, acrylic, ink). The book includes a large number of awesome, inspiring pieces of multimedia colored pencil artwork.

I enjoy experimenting with colors in Photoshop Elements. Here is one such experiment. I like the blue background as well as the green one.

Illustration Friday - Pet Peeves

I chose to illustrate a pet's peeve. My dog Shelty is part hound and loves to chase squirrels and rabbits. Unfortunately for her, she never gets the opportunity, since she is always on a leash. I am sure she would say this irks her. Prismacolor Marker on Bristol Smooth paper, touched up with Photoshop Elements.

Here is the untouched up version.


Finally, here is a version in watercolor that has a more limited palette. The black outlines are marker.

Illustration Friday - Leap

My concept is an imaginary man leaping through the sky:

Here is the single image repeated multiple times using Photoshop Elements:

I used watercolor and ink on 90 lb watercolor paper. I used Photoshop Elements to duplicate and combine the images. I leave Dallas today to go to a conference in Santa Clara, California. It lasts all week. I'll be commenting on other's blogs during the week, but will not be posting until next Saturday.

Illustration Friday - Multiple

I painted a small square using watercolors and then used Photoshop Elements to repeat it multiple times. Here is the single square:


I got the idea from Plain Jane at Janeville. She posted an art lesson on textile design for 3-6th graders here and here and here. Here are some great textile designs by 4th-grade kids: one, another, and yet another. Why should kids have all the fun? Thanks, Jane!

Illustration Friday - Choose

It is almost time to choose your Valentine! This is a loose copy of an image on a 2001 Hershey Kiss Valentine's Day tin. Prismacolor colored pencil on 5" x 7" Canson greeting card, touched up using Photoshop Elements. The greeting card wasn't a good surface for colored pencil.

Illustration Friday - 100%

100%. It is way overrated. In school, we are taught to strive for the grade 100%. At our jobs, we are encouraged to give more than 100%. It is the way to get ahead. But 100% can be a killer. So just say no to 100% and perfection. And encourage your kids to say no, too. Striving for 100% can lead to fear of failure, which leads to fear of trying, which kills creativity. Striving for 100% leads to burn out, exhaustion, and poor health. Just say no!

Watercolor and gouache on 5" x 8" Acquarello Watercolor Studio 140 lb cold pressed paper, touched up using Photoshop Elements.

Here is the original watercolor version, before the touch up. I used Photoshop Elements to alter the color of the "100".

From 2 to 3 Dimensions

Yesterday, I played with 2- and 3-dimensional designs. The problem is to take a 2-dimensional design and convert it to a 3-dimensional one, by adding gray. I started with the design shown below, which I created a few months ago. It is black construction paper pasted on white paper.

I scanned and printed the above design. I then used gray marker to give the design a 3rd dimension, as shown below.

Finally, I scanned the marked-up version of the design and used Photoshop Elements to improve the black and gray colors. The final result is the image at the top of the post. I found this exercise to be very enjoyable; I find it very freeing to work with abstract shapes.

Illustration Friday - Backwards

Backwards can be beautiful. The first thing that popped into my mind for the prompt backwards was dyslexia, as both my children have learning differences. The next thing that popped into my mind was Leonardo da Vinci's handwriting. For this week's prompt, I played with da Vinci's image printed out on card stock as a collage element. I also tried using da Vinci's handwriting as a background, but I couldn't get that to work well. I think I was subconsciously going after a Andy Warhol-like look.

Illustration Friday - Hats

Collage using construction paper, touched up with Photoshop Elements.