Illustration Friday: Eye Glasses

Hey all!
I've been out of the IF loop for a while. I've had SOOOO much going on lately, but I needed to get back into quick illo mode so I wanted to get back on the horse this week. Here are a couple of takes on this week's theme; one in black and white that is about eyeglasses, the other in color about glasses of lemonade-the word "glasses" inspired it even though it's about a different kind of glasses. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Explore

Hey all
For this week's theme, I'm furthering my exploration of black and white. This little guy is certainly about to explore this whale, hopefully the whale will be kind to his new visitor. He's gently going in but there is still something unsettling about his adventure and the atmosphere.

Thanks for looking!

Illustration Friday: Tree

Hey all
I've been bad about my IF posts the last month or so. I am currently working on new picture book project though staring my precocious badgers, Tic and Tac so I decided to do some practice sketches of them based on recent IF topics. I've done a couple for this week's "tree" theme as well as the catch up entries. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Imagination

 

Hey everyone!

I haven't done and IF in a few weeks due to some other projects that have been taking up my time (to which I will post about soon) but here is my latest piece that I've created. I am not sure where this idea came from, but its my own sort of take on Little Red Riding Hood. What if it was all a game in the wolf's mind and these where just his play things? Or maybe in his reality, people are not more threat than just bugs? Either way, I think this little bad wolf is using his imagination. That is to say if he is bad at all...

I forgot to mention I've been watching all lot of Twin Peaks lately and I think its creeping into my children's books illustration. I'm taking it as a good thing- and perfect company for my Woodland illustrations! Thanks for looking!

jx

Illustration Friday: Freeze

What's the first thing you do after the first winter freeze? Well this little guy goes ice skating on the pond!

Illustration Friday: Lonely

This little guy got trapped in a bell jar when he was running through the field. I'd say he feels pretty lonely right about now.

Illustration Friday: Carry

For this week's theme, I thought I would post a mini book that I created to send out as promotion for my illustration work. It all starts off with Tic and Tac (my precocious badgers) carrying some items, so I thought it fit perfectly. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Lost

I'm a little late this week with my IF piece, but I'm really quite happy with how it turned out. It's my mole that I've been playing with. It appears that he is looking for a way to get to somewhere very important...or maybe just a way out of his house?

Illustration Friday: Refresh

Hey All
Here is my illustration for this week's IF theme. My little tapir needs to freshen up his patch of grass with a nice cool drink!Thanks for looking!

Illustration Friday:Space

Hey everyone, here is my IF piece for the week. This is another larger piece I am trying to do. This week's space theme got me thinking about what space might seem like to these little woodland creatures.I'd imagining it would be very impressive and mysterious. Let me know what you think!

Illustration Friday: Secret

I am working on doing some larger narrative pieces to go along with some character studies I've been doing. This little mole emerged for this week's IF theme. He found a secret place he'd been looking for hidden by brambles. As I work on these more complex pieces, please let me know your thoughts!

Update:

Here are some  in between pictures that I took so show you guys my process. I only took a couple of photos, but basically this is what I did:
1)I sketched the drawing first
2) I traced and transferred the image to watercolor paper
3) I inked with waterproof Micron pens
4) I water colored the image.

You will notice that I did ink a TON of vines,but the water coloring process obscured a lot of them- which was great because it allowed me to add some depth with the larger detailed vines up front and then smaller less detailed vines the farther up the mountain. Hope this helped!

Illustration Friday: Shiny

What could be better than a delicious meal of shiny red apples with the one you love?

Illustration Friday: Hurry

This week's IF theme made me think of the one thing I think I do fast- eat. So these little bears are racing each other in a pie eating contest! I think I'd like to savor the pie a bit more though.

Illustration Friday: Faded

Hey everyone!
I'm getting back into the swing of things post vacation and I wanted to catch up with my IF entries. This week's topic is "faded" but in a way my illustration works for last week's topic "sight" as well. I sort of feel like this illustration says that Mr. Mole here has found something in his hole, but for numerous reasons, he can't see what it is.  I drew and water colored the piece by hand, but in Photoshop I enhance the lighting a little differently on the second one around the lamp. What do you think? Also, I've also added my illustration for a few week's back with "jump" was the theme. Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Mole version 1:

Mole version 2:

 

Illustration from IF theme "Jump." 

 

Hold on little guy!!!

Illustration Friday: Heights

Hey everyone!
I've been off for a few weeks but I am back to do this week's IF topic "Heights." I am playing around with this weird little world where my animals live and I think I stumbled upon a suburb of their town. What do you think? Is this working? Any suggestions? I'm trying out a new background, so let me know your thoughts!

Illustration Friday: Return

Hey all
This week's IF theme "Return" was a little challenging for me not to come up with something not cliche, so I just went for the obvious. But I really like! Let me know what you think!

Poor little guy. I hope it wasn't a love letter that was returned.

Illustration Friday: Swamp

Hey everyone!
Here is my entry for this week's illustration Friday theme: Swamp. I loved this theme, and it fit really nicely into my creatures in the woods stuff I've been doing lately. I love the idea of a raft and a jug band, it's so simple and fun. I would hang out with this little guys.

Illustration Friday: Shades

Hey everyone!
Here is my latest Illustration Friday entry. The topic is "Shades." I wanted to do something fun so I worked up this idea of a skunk stuck under a lampshade. Also, here is another piece that a made a little while ago when I was working on my monster series. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Yield

This week's IF topic "Yield" was a little tricky. It took me a while to think of something that really struck me. But I came up with this little image of the hedgehog beekeepers collecting their bee's yield. I have a feeling that they would make great beekeepers. The bees would be just as concerned about getting stung as they would.

Illustration Friday: Intention

This weeks IF topic Intention has me thinking about the intentions we have when we are young. They may seem small, but at the time they are quite important. So I did a couple of drawings that came to mind with that theme.