Character Sketch

I'm working on another character sketch. How does it look? Is it consistent? Not? Good, bad, ugly? Any advice/suggestions/comments are greatly appreciated!

A few character studies

Hi everyone! I have to apologize for not posting and commenting earlier. This is such a great idea and a great exercise, but I have been a bit overwhelmed with some other things and have not been able to dedicate myself to giving life to these characters.

One thing I learned already: keeping proportions is hard! The characters worked really nicely on that one illustration, but when I try to sketch them in different poses (and I had done a few a while back for IF) the proportions were not right. That's where I tend to lose the consistency...

I'll be sure to visit everyone's posts and comment. Sorry if I don't finish this project. In about a week, I'm going to Brazil to visit my family, and I still feel I have so much to do!

doodles for the storyboard and double colour pages

so 'cricket the superhero' story is continuing :) i'm working on a tale with autumnal colours and my cricket-character whom you can see at my earlier post.

here's some doodles from the storyboard:



and double pages from a work in progress book:

color study

I did a color study of last week's girl. As an update, I made her look younger, perhaps more like 4-5 (closer to 5) rather than 3-5 years old. I'm pretty happy with her hair, but I think I made it a little bit too "jaggedy," if that makes sense. Also, I need to tweak the girl in the far upper right so that she looks a little bit younger like the others. Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions last week. As much as suggestions often mean more work, the work usually turns out better than before. I feel like her poses are stronger than before. OK, so I'm rambling, and my 4-year-old is anxious to do something with me. Until next time . . .

Popple

This little girl is called Popple and she likes snails and standing on her head.

Character Sketch

Oh my, I have been so crazy busy lately, I have really missed being here but I am so happy to be able to post something for October's challenge... I have been working on a specific project and it just so happened I was toying with character poses etc.. so here is my post. Hope I am still in time. I have also added one small color piece to give a hint of what is to come, hopefully for my new portfolio around Thanksgiving time.



Everyone's work is looking simply fabulous - I am glad to be back!

ARF! ARF!

Meet Betty Needlemayer

Meet Betty Needlemayer. She is a teenage girl who loves to create Green Art. She takes
old clothing, fabrics and other junk and with her magical needle turns them in to wonderful toys
for children all over all the world. She tucks little message inside each toy. Her very own wish
for the child. Seems these toys have special powers and can get in trouble here and there. Still working on the whole concept. That is the hardest part for me. Coming up with the pictures
is easy, putting a story together is something totally different. Being dyslexic doesn't help. he he he

Expressions

While we are working on character sketches I thought I would make a note about this reference. In his book MAKING COMICS Scott McCloud has a wonderful section about expressions. He talks about the muscles of the face and how they create expressions, and then he has a reference page of expressions and combinations of expressions. Because he does comics each of these expressions is created with the simplest number of lines and has been very helpful to me in terms of figuring out how to create an expression quickly.

More helpful links about portfolio

hi girls! i've found few interesting links on a blog of Edrian Thomidis (thank her for sharing).
i hope these will be useful:

http://blog.illustrationcastle.com/2007/06/13/how-to-build-an-illustration-portfolio/

http://howtobeachildrensbookillustrator.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/when-is-it-ok-for-adults-to-criticize-other-adults-at-a-portfolio-critique-session-of-course/

http://www.amateurillustrator.com/articles/?p=113

http://www.phylliscahill.com/articles/selfpromo.html

have a nice week all of you!

Benny's boots...

Benny's boots, if taken off, will reveal that the boots couldn't actually fit him, so I'm leaving them on--does that work okay?

Benny & Wildhorse Harry

This is hard but fun! I've needed to do this because I've wanted to create a dummy book for these two characters--any constructive comments are very welcome!

Character Studies

I knew I wasn't ready for book illustrations just yet, but I didn't realise how far I need to improve until I tried these character studies.
I rarely draw people, let alone children, so I knew that would be difficult, but even sustaining a sense of character in five pictures of one mouse (an animal I draw all the time) was a real challenge. What a useful prompt: lots of practice needed, but what fun!

Character Sketch

Here are some character sketches I've been working on for this week's prompt. I agree with Angelic in that, I'd would love some honest critique of these. While receiving negative feedback stings a little, I think you really grow as an artist when you are able to hear honest opinions. So, bring 'em on!! :-) Have a great weekend ya'll!! (I hope I didn't post too many).

ps - sorry for the color of the scans, we're having some technical difficulties. Hopefully, will be resolved soon.

Seymour

I don't have time for a new character study (although I should be making time.) But here is Seymour, the Blue Footed Booby from a dummy I made quite a while ago. Seymour and his friends Titus, the marine iquana, and Leon, the sealion, live on the Galapagoes Islands. One day they find a curious item under a bush and try to figure out what it is.

one-tooth dog

I'd love to try and use this chance to explore and develop the character one-tooth dog. I can't draw dogs well at all, but there's just something about this character that I really like - and this morning, a small new fragment of his story tumbled out...

I love this month's challenge - thank you so much to everyone who came up with this idea! - and it's so lovely seeing what characters are appearing - from crickets to bears - all so different and all so brilliant!!

Cricket's faces

some of you could see this cricket on my blog - i'm going to work on my own tale with him and a little chestnut. here's some sketches about cricket. i think the first step is to find a new special character. more drawings coming soon! have a shiny, creative week everyone! :)

Character Sketch

I've been working on a dummy for quite a while for a story I've written. Every now and then I get discouraged and stop working on it, so I'm glad for this little push and excuse to keep going on with it. Here are the character sketches. I want you to be brutally honest and help me figure out where I need to improve to keep her looking more consistent. By the way, she's supposed to be somewhere between 3-5 years old. (I know that can be a big difference, so let me know your thoughts on the matter.)

I really feel grateful for all of you and the way this group has helped push all of us to do better work. Thanks!

Character sheet

I'm actually working right now on a series of new characters for Forget-Me-Not-Tots, LLC, but I don't believe I can share them online while they're in "production."

Instead I think I'll do some studies based on an illustration I did for Illustration Friday some time ago, and that I really, really like. I'd like to develop the characters a bit more, especially the little boy and the dog at first, so I'll be pasting some pencil studies soon.

Because I also have a full-time job, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to accomplish in terms of final illustrations, but I'll definitely try. If not, at least I hope to get some real good practice playing with these characters.

Second version of 'Snail watching'

I liked my first version, but I wanted there to be more going on in the picture.

So now: who's watching who?

Found it.

Brooklyn Arden's Blog -

Squids 101: What I Like to See in an Artist's Portfolio

There's tons of good stuff here. We could probably use her list for the next several prompts. ;)

The Beginnings of Bear.

Hi Everyone, this is another coincindence for me as I happen to have just started illustrating a story my friend has written. I've never done this before so I'm treating it a bit like a college assignment and hopefully will end up with artwork suitable to send to publishers! Here's a page of studies I made of one of the main characters. He's called 'Bear.'

Escargot escapee

Making PB Portfolios links

http://www.tonysansevero.com/makeport.html

http://www.underdown.org/illustrating-for-children.htm

I still can't find the one with the specific list, but these will do for now.

Venuvean Racing Snail

This happy little fellow says his name is Harold. I don't think he looks much like a Harold, but there you have it.

I had a lot of fun with this prompt. Now onto more "serious" work. Ha!

The color is a bit off. The painting is much, much more vivid, but when I saved it to jpg file it lost the brightness.

"Where is the snail? ;)

the tiny museum of snails and slime trails

merry, happy, yippeeee, celebration cake

Moon Snail

Watercolor and watercolor pencil rendering of a Moon Snail. Have a good week!

Watchful Snails

I'm enjoying this week's topic, and it's another coincidence for me! Click here to see where I've made some drawings of a little girl who likes snails, so wears a sweatshirt with a snail design!

Second go at it

OK, here is my second try. I think it's a little easier on the eye then the first one, but there is still something not quite right with it. Any ideas? I'm hitting the wall here.

Where's the snail?

I thought I would be a bit playful with this one. The snail is quite impressed with what that little girl can do! Come to think of it, that's one large snail! :-)

I'm still trying to find my most comfortable way of drawing people. I like a very loose style, similar to what I did with this illustration, but it doesn't always work. I really just have to keep practicing, trying different styles I guess, until I find the "right" one for me.

Snail watching

Snail

I was really excited to do this one. I was feeling quite autumnal, so I thought I'd put my snail in a Halloween setting. Unfortunately, I'm not happy with how it turned out: the colors are muddy, and the little bunnies are hard to see in all the muck. Very frustrating. Urgh. The picture in my mind's eye was much cuter.

Watercolor Wednesday " Krisztina's Snail"

This is in honor of Krisztina who has won the very special, "Spotted Bunny award!"
I feel like I need come up with a Spotted Bunny award theme song. he he he he.
Congrats to you Krisztina you deserve it. Take a bow

snails

thanks for this prompt, i really like snails!
and I would like to thank all of you for kind words week by week and encouraging comments, these help a lot for growing in paint-works! I'm so honoured with my spotted bunny! :)