Friday, October 7, 2011

To Save or to Spend...

Hi everyone! It's been a busy few months, but I wanted to take the time to share a sneak preview of my latest projects. I just finished working on "Kathryn & Elizabeth Go Shopping", which is about two sisters who have to decide whether to spend their allowance or put those dollars in the piggy bank. This project was a bit of an experiment for me, because I decided to incorporate a little bit of collage into my digital technique. I scanned in patterns and textures and incorporated them into the illustrations as clothing, fabric, floors, wallpaper and other elements to bring greater detail and uniqueness to each image. The hard part was choosing textures that would blend seamlessly with my digital painting technique. I had to adjust some of the patterns' colors to match my color scheme as well. However, I am really pleased with the end result, and feel that the illustrations for this book really represent a step forward in my digital art. Plus, the client was happy and approved all final art as-is! Yay! I also had the opportunity to do the graphic design for this project as well. This is unusual for me to have true control of the book's look and layout, from imagery to text. I really enjoyed being able to integrate the text with the imagery exactly as I envisioned while working on the illustrations, and I LOVE picking out accent fonts.....I know, it's nerdy, but I love fonts. Anyway, here are a few more of my favorites images for this project (without the text, or course):
I'm currently working on another project aimed towards tween-age girls, staring a girl with very curly red hair. I've had a character in my sketchbooks for years with curly red hair that I have been wanting to bring to life for a while, so I am glad that the right project came along to use her! That's all for now! Have a happy day, everyone!