Some new pieces

Hey all
So I had my first portfolio crit the other day at my first local SCBWI meeting! It went well, considering that I just honed in on my style that I'd like to do for picture books. I got a lot of good feedback and encouragement! It's been a lot of exploring and a lot of fails since the conference in LA, but it's all been very good. AND with the help of my awesome husband pushing me to realize that I've had my "style" there all along, but I just haven't been applying to picture books- out our house we call that "not thinking fourth dimensionally." I look forward to doing more in this style for Illustration Friday work as well, to help build up a continuity with all my work. So here are some samples of what I've worked up. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think!

Winter Slow Down vs. 2012 ramp up!

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to quickly check in! It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. The holidays were in full effect and I went out of town. I did in fact get a chance to do some drawing over the break which is good, but I hadn't gotten to upload anything while I was gone. I did keep up with my Illustration Friday work but did not post it.That said, as the new year is upon up, there will be more to come this week! For the time being, here is a piece that I was commissioned to do for a Christmas present:

The gentleman saw some work of mine from our yeti show at work and commissioned me to draw his family at Yetis, something he said he always wanted to see. After some recent experience doing some portraits, I decided that the best thing to do if you are going to draw someone, is to meet them in person. It's so hard to hone in on the essence of someone that you've never met through a stiff photograph. So I went to the house of the family pretending that I was there working on a photography project about families- so the portrait was a surprise to everyone. The family was a hoot and I feel like I captured their essence and likeness pretty well!

I've also made a lot of headway with my graphic novel. I finished the first section. Now onto edits and part 2. I'll post some more pages soon so you can see another vignette from the book. Now I'm off to work on some illustrations for my first portfolio crit with the local chapter of SCBWI this coming week.
Thanks for looking! 

Illustration Friday: Separated

Hello all!
It's late in the week, but I wanted to post for this week's theme. "Separated." When i hear this word I think about things wanting to be separated by they can't be. I was very into the topic of conjoined twins for a long time. I think there is something very fascinating about two being fused together, sharing, loving, experiencing things always together, but they are still separate beings. Anyhoo, enjoy:

The Stranger Cover this week!

hey everyone!
Just wanted to let you know my talented husband Aaron had an illustration featured on this week's cover of the Seattle Stranger:

It's a collection of small gouache and ink paintings from his series "The Numbers Family." To see more of his work outside of his website, hit up our website Gorilla House Press, website dedicated to various work that Aaron and I have done.
Enjoy!
jx

Illustration Friday: Brigade

Howdy all!
So this week's theme for Illustration Friday is "Brigade." Normally I wouldn't post a piece I hadn't done specifically for I.F. or that I hadn't done recently, but this is one of my favorite pieces I've done. It's called "Redcoat Pizza" and it is a part of my "Explore and Conquer" series. It fit the theme so well, I just wanted to share it with everyone.

Thanks for looking!
jx

Illustration Friday: Round

Hello!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I know that after spending a holiday where all you do is eat, it wasn't hard coming up with an idea for this week's topic of "Round."

 Among many things, I love food, olde tyme stuff, and old men waving their canes in anger. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Vanity

Hey everyone!
After a couple of weeks of Illustration Friday silence due to getting ready for the Artache Art Flea Market, I'm back in full effect. A lot of time too I at least do the drawings even without posting them, usually because they are still in sketch form. Here is a fun contribution for this week's theme, vanity.

 

I love the idea that this boogery little guy is vain. He's gross, but I do think he's kind of cute. I used watercolor and pencil on this. I really like my treatment of the watercolor. I've been trying to use pencil more in this way, almost like pen, but with a little enhancement of shading.

Anyways, enjoy and more to come! Thanks for viewing!