The Joys of Tracing Paper

Working today on the children's book. It's been a process to develop the character that the author envisioned, but we have it down and I'm onto the next step. I'm finding that for more complex images, I work well with creating a series of initial sketches, and then using tracing paper to build up to a single polished piece. I then scan that in and can color it or clean up. It takes alot of the pressure off when drawing seperate components, that they can be shifted, resized, just more malleable. There's nothing more annoying than working on something for a long time, and then one slip of the hand....

Also, it's been on my mind that I need to brand myself.  Thankfully, I'm too busy to do it, but it's something I would like to start developing on my own time. Maybe in the future I'll post some ideas.

All engines GO!

These past months have suddenly livened up and that is always a great feeling. Waking up every morning to tackle new and challenging projects is perhaps one of my favorite things in life. Sure, it has it's stressful moments, but it's the kind of tickling feeling that makes you feel productive and useful. Your reminded of all the times that you've gone through that grueling process only to come out the other end with good,  polished work. It's also when you learn about your process, some new tricks, and ultimately- yourself.

So what do I got? Two pretty big projects. One is a children's book for Inkspill Publishing (www.inkspillbooks.com/) a rather new company looking to expand their book selection. The other is a medical stock company (www.cmsp.com) which has asked for step-by-step illustrations of fetal development. Could two projects be more different? But that's what makes life fun!

Also, I got a few small projects from the Tennessee Report, an on-line newspaper (www.tnreport.com). Did their intro animation (which I'll post later) and an illustration for a story on fiscal notes (below).