Major Manners Has Arrived! by Russ Cox

 

 ©Russ Cox & Outhouse Ink Publishing

I would like to announce that Major Manners Nite Nite Soldier (Outhouse Ink Publishing), which I illustrated, is now available through their website or look for it at a bookstore near you. The story is about Major Manners who teaches children to brush their teeth, bath, get ready for bed, etc. all set to a cadence. The book comes with a fun cd in which the major and kids read the story in their own charming way. We are working on a new story together that will be out late next year so stay tuned for details.

Say Cheese! By Sheralyn Barnes

Hello and Happy Summer!

For this post I thought I would share some "snapshots" I've done recently. I've had the desire to do less actual digital painting on the computer lately and instead have felt the need to revisit my drawers of pencil, paper, and paints a bit more. I've recently had several projects come in that involve making illustrations that look like snapshots and postcards and so I've been experimenting with how I can use the computer as more a tool for design of my scanned in, hand drawn images. I found a fun filtering application called SnapSeed and here are some of the results of my experiments.

The first is an experiment using some existing pencil sketches. I've always had an issue with the Aesop fable of Ant and Grasshopper and have been working on a story that puts a modern twist on a fable I feel needs to be updated for our modern world. Being a working musician as well, I tend to resent Aesop's view that hours of practicing and playing a musical instrument is a lazy pursuit, especially in our current world where people are overworked and overstressed, arts programs are disappearing in our schools, and people are generally just not playing enough! So I've had these characters hanging out with me in my sketch book a lot lately to remind me of what's 

important to me.

This image was composed of several pencil sketches, some scanned photo corners, and the magic of  SnapSeed filters. It's truly an experimental piece and a bit raw. I'm also trying to perfect a technique that I'm happy with for adding color to my pencil sketches without washing out the original integrity of the sketch. I'm getting closer, but still have a ways to go before I pin it down to a true system.

Speaking of my love for music, here is a photo I recently designed for a world music project that my husband and I have started for kids called Filibert Binkleby and the Travelers. Filibert is our fictitious friend who likes to share his adventures of traveling the world through the songs that he writes (and we perform since he's always off somewhere new and can't make the gigs). I've been having some fun with some of our old travel photos and a simple Filibert two dimensional "puppet" I created.

Again....a work in progress...but it's all fun!

Thanks for popping in for my post! 

Be sure to check up on our own wacky Brit Hazel here next time around!

www.sheralynbarnes.com

Great News & Sneaky Peeks by Fred Koehler

Hello friends!! Lots of wonderful things going on in the world of Pixel Shavings, which is a testament to both the value of forming a group and the hard work of each of its members. I think every single member has a project in the works, and that's seriously awesome.

My great news is that I've signed with Josh and Tracey of Adams Literary, rising stars themselves in the world of literary agencies. When I met them the first time, I arrived at our poolside meeting in Orlando wearing a bathing suit and cowboy hat. When they didn't even flinch, I knew it was meant to be. They even shared their french fries.

Check out Adams Literary at adamsliterary.com. They are OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS!! By the by, that's how I was able to set the meeting. I sent a compelling email through their website. They had no idea who I was before that email.

Also very cool is that I've been featured on author Rob Sanders' blog. He's running a fantastic series of success stories from other authors he's met. For sure check it out at: http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2012/07/fred-koehler.html

On to the Sneaky Peeks. Dad's Bad Day (Penguin, 2014) is going through a fair amount of sketch revisions. While I'm anxious to move on to final art, I am stoked to be working with a team dedicated to making this the best book possible.

Here are a few sketches that may or may not make the final cut. But I like 'em (and so should you!!). :-) As always, thanks for checking in with us and let us know if our collective wisdom can shine a light for you.




 

Cheers,

-Fred

freddiek.com
flickr.com/superfredd

Morning Flight process, Richard Jesse Watson and digital vs physical media - by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

To you Americans out there: Happy July 4th! Today I'm going to show you how I created one of my Daily Doodles (some of which I post on DebbieOhi.com). As I've mentioned before, I try to draw purely for the fun of it every day.

Sometimes I start with a blank digital canvas and just start drawing the first thing that comes into my head. Other times I'll do an image search for a word or phrase for inspiration. In this particular instance, I looked for "kite child" Google Image search and settled on the image at the top of a Flow Psychology page.

Ever since attending Richard Jesse Watson's session at the SCBWI Illustrators' Intensive Day in LA last year, I've been experimenting more with textures. I loved all the sessions that day and learned something new from each of them, but it was Richard's that affected me the most because his method (very loose and free) was closest to mine.

Richard Jesse Watson during an Illustrator Intensive
at the SCBWI-LA conference last year.

 Richard incorporated textures by manipulating and using a variety of physical media. I was fascinated and inspired, and was inspired to try something similar.

Richard Jesse Watson during an Illustrator Intensive
at the SCBWI-LA conference last year.

Since I work digitally, I had to look for other ways to bring texture into my drawings. I started experimenting with Photoshop's texture brushes.

To Photoshop users: you can find many, many texture brushes online as well as tips on how to install brushes, if you don't already know. You can also create your own brushes.

I used texture brushes and shades of yellow/orange to create a sunrise (or sunset, depending on how you choose to look at it). I used several layers so I could play around a bit with different colours.

When I was happy with the look, I added a plain black ground:

And grass:

And a silhouette of a running child. I had the child's arms stretching up to hold the kite:

Finally, I added the kite. I made the layer slightly transparent so you could see part of the sky showing through. I also added a paler colour to make it look like the sun was just peeking over the hill:

I put the sun on a different layer so I could move it around and see what worked best.

And yes, I'm all about layers. I know there's a much different satisfaction in working with physical media and I totally get why many artists prefer non-digital art, but the flexibility of digital media encourages me to experiment. 

With such a small office space and limited time, I'm not sure I'd feel as free to experiment with such a wide range of styles and methods if I knew that I'd have to re-do the entire piece if I screwed up, or potentially waste expensive art materials.

BUT before you traditional artists jump on me, I also admit that I don't have much experience in working with physical media. I'd love to hear thoughts from those who work regularly with both physical and digital art! Feel free to post in the comments section below.

Next up: the splendiferous Fred Koehler, whose Dad's Bad Day comes out from Dial Books For Young Readers in Spring 2014.

And just over two months until I'm Bored (new picture book written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by yours truly) comes out, woohoo! Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers have moved the publication date up to September 4th, 2012. CAN'T WAIT.

-- Debbie

I blog about writing & illustrating picture books for Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers as well as writing & illustrating for young people in general. 

Staying On Course by Russ Cox

©2012 Russ Cox | Smiling Otis Studio

Since returning from the NESCBWI Conference in late April, I have been heeding the advice I have received from friends, agents, and art directors who have told me how much they love my drawings and sketches. With that advice, I have started playing around colorizing my sketches and drawings so that the looseness and energy does not get lost in the final art. I have been doing a doodle a day (and filled up one sketchbook since returning) which has lead me more down this path. This is the first "official" illustration I did with this looser style. The idea came from a conference doodle that I liked and thought would make a good promo piece.

I quickly worked out a composition based on the doodle. I wanted a slight over the head perspective that would focus on the characters and their "vehicles".

I then refined the sketch a bit more, developing the characters and the space crafts.

Once I got the characters heading the right direction, I did a final, tighter drawing that stilled kept the freshness of the previous sketches. This was scanned in at 300 dpi so that I could render it digitally. I left room at the top left for my contact info.

I imported the drawing into Painter. With the sketch layer set as the top most layer, and set to "multiply", I began laying in a background tone and blocks of color. Painter has this cool feature which will allow you to set your light direction as you can see with the gradated tone. Previously, I was doing a grayscale underpainting but I thought the color blocks would achieve the same effect. Plus I wanted to keep things spontaneous and fresh. Oh, I used the gouache brushes for this illustration.

With the color in place, highlights were added on a top layer. This allowed me to drop the white over top of the sketch as well.

I felt that the final illustration looked a little flat so I went back in and added some darker tones and lightened ares of the road and grass. I think it looks much better.

Since this is a postcard promo, I sketched the main characters from the front for the back of the card and will keep it as a black & white piece. All that is left to do is put it together and send it off for printing. 

Everyone put your hands together and give a great big cheer for Debbie Ohi as she will sharing something truly amazing on her post in two weeks. Thanks for reading and make sure to check out the other posts from my fellow Pixel Shavers.

Ciao,

Russ

www.smilingotis.com
Smiling Otis Facebook Fan Page
Smiling Otis Studio Blog

Cabin Boy from Hazel Mitchell

 I've been looking more at historic characters and settings lately. Maybe it's because I love historic films, documentaries and costume dramas ... it is definitely something I feel comfortable drawing!




This little guy turned up in one of my morning warm up sketches, and he features on my next postcard mailout.

I draw these digitally, in photoshop using only a couple of colours (usually inspired by a colour inspiration website). I don't do any underdrawing ... that way I can't overthink, plus I keep the freshness of the line.

See more of my work at http://hazelmitchell.com or on my blog at http://hazelmitchell.blogspot.com



 Next up on Pixel Shavings in June will be Russ Cox .. fresh from his clean sweep in the Poster Contest at NESCBWI!

Toodles!
Hazel

Happy Birthday to Me by Sheralyn Barnes

Today is my birthday and I’m halfway to ninety should I get there. 

I really wasn’t planning to make a big deal of it, especially because I’ve been feeling older in body and spirit in the last few months. Also, I am allergic to a lot of foods. I can’t eat gluten, sugar, or dairy. This is terribly inconvenient for my poor husband who probably has one of the hardest wives to try to do something special for on her birthday. We usually just go out for Indian food.

So a thought occurred to me the other night. I was thinking about this upcoming post and how I’ve been feeling rather “un-fun” with my art lately. I was thinking how ever since I started creating art for money (and on the computer), a lot of the fun has gotten overshadowed by anxiety about doing a good job, my obsessiveness that accompanies working digitally, and navigating contracts. I started thinking about what a BIG deal your birthday is to you when you’re a kid and how you let EVERYONE know. So I told my husband we should definitely have cake for my birthday this year....on paper. I went out and bought crayons and some construction paper. I spent 3 hours literally sprawled out on the living room floor, crayons all around me, making myself a birthday cake. My husband made me one too (he burned it, but it’s still lovely). And my Pixel Shavings mates were incredibly kind enough to take time out of their (very) busy schedules to make me cakes as well. Debbie even took up my challenge of not doing it digitally for the thrill of it.

It was great to not have Control-Z as a safety net. It was great to linger aimlessly over paper on the floor using stubby little sticks of waxy color that seem to work best when held fist first. It was great to realize by middle aged body can still manage to sit on the floor for hours. But most of all, it was great to feel like a kid again and get lost in coloring for a few hours for no reason whatsoever.....except...

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!

©2012 Sheralyn Barnes

©2012 Brian Barnes

©2012 Hazel Mitchell

©2012 Debbie Ohi

©2012 Russ Cox

Thanks to everyone for the loveliest cakes ever 

and for making my birthday so great!

 

www.sheralynbarnes.com