A Perfect Match | Illustration Friday

This week's entry for Illustration Friday work of the week - Identical. They look so happy!

Girl at Ballet Barre | Sketchbook

I've been working on gesture poses, and came up with two ballet themed doodles of a girl at the ballet barre. It seems, in the one at the bottom, that the dance instructor is quite the task master and the girl has had just about enough.

Hands (The Sequel) | Pencil Drawing

Here's another go a drawing hands.

T is for Tall | Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday's work of the week is "Tall". I had fun with this one, and couldn't seem to stop. It's now 2:41 in the morning, but I finally finished it.

"Teacher" for Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday's word for this week is "Teacher" so I drew a student with an apple. Not too imaginative, but a nice challenge as I'm trying working on my ability to draw hands.

Steampunk Girl with Telescope | Website Illustration

I created this illustration and website design for a telescope site. (This is a little cropped piece of it.) A steampunk theme seemed like the perfect thing, as the accessories often seem to include a telescope - not necessarily one like this - but a telescope all the same.

On the Flying Trapeze | Digital Illustration

I was browsing Pinterest.com and got inspired. This illustration wound up in a totally different place than the piece I was inspired by, but at least it challenged me.

If you're interested...
I photographed a sketch of the girl, then created the scene with flat color (for the most part) and drop shadows in Adobe Illustrator. The highlights and shadows were added in Photoshop.

The Wee Little Scare | eBook

I created a counting book for my general music classes awhile back. (I taught music in Christian and public schools for 14 years.) I thought I might be able to spruce up the look of the illustrations, so I gave it a go.

Below are a few pages from the book. The publisher I'm working with on another project has accepted it, though it's in line behind a bunch of other stuff. When it comes out it will be available as an interactive eBook. I'll let you know when it's published.

You can also print it from my music site, MakingMusicFun.net - The Wee Little Scare | Music/Counting eBook.

You probably know where it's going from here... :-)

Meet Bach | Digital Illustration

Johann Sebastian Bach is the third composer bust that I have created for my series of interactive apps/iBooks that I am working to create. I'd like to do five composer resources, but want to wait to see how they will do on iTunes/iBooks before I invest any more time in this series.

In case you missed the last Meet the Composer series post....
An interactive eBook/App publisher contacted me a while back to create a series of music composer resources. They will include content from my music site, MakingMusicFun.net, as well as stuff specifically created for these editions. I'll share more about these resources as they progress. Here's a little of the artwork so far.

Meet Mozart | Digital Illustration

Here's the next in the series of great composer illustrations for the cover of an upcoming interactive resource that I working to create.

In case you missed the last Meet the Composer series post....
An interactive eBook/App publisher contacted me a while back to create a series of music composer resources. They will include content from my music site, MakingMusicFun.net, as well as stuff specifically created for these editions. I'll share more about these resources as they progress.

"Freeze" for Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday's word for this week is "Freeze". I thought of the moment in The Christmas Story when Ralphie's friends Flick and Schwartz argue over whether a person's tongue will stick to a frozen flagpole. A "triple dog dare" issued, and Flick's tongue gets stuck to the pole.

This my variation on that scene, with the character wearing a Santa cap.

Meet Beethoven | Digital Illustration

An interactive eBook/App publisher contacted me a while back to create a series of music composer resources. They will include content from my music site, MakingMusicFun.net, as well as stuff specifically created for these editions. I'll share more about these resources as they progress. The composer bust will be used on the cover.

And then this funny pizza guy will be used in a quiz...

"Test your knowledge of Beethoven by completing this 10 question quiz. Answer at least 7 questions correctly and Beethoven gets a delicious pizza for dinner. Miss 4 questions or more and Beethoven goes to bed hungry."

It's so fun to be kooky!

Kooky Goose | Sketchbook and Watercolor

A little bit of doodling, and a little bit of finding out what a goose should look like and voila... a pencil sketch of a kooky goose!

I love composing music that walks a fine line between jazz and classical music. I thought I would try the same with this character, combining illustration with a traditional approach to painting a watercolor landscape.

Swing Daddy-O | Digital Illustration

I went to a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert at the Ventura County Fair this week. The bass player struck a pretty cool pose that stuck in my head.

Here's the sketch that I started with...

 Here's what the final image looks like.

I even sent it to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. We'll see if they "dig it".

"Bounce" for Illustration Friday

My first drawing for Illustration Friday. This week's word was "Bounce".

"Ewe" Are So Beautiful

Here's a funny little sketch of a sheep. I'm considering working on a Bible story book for the iPad. This is one of the doodles that I have so far.

Drawing Hands or "Taking on the Monster"

Drawing hands is hard - probably one of my greatest challanges. 

I was encouraged awhile back when I read a dialogue that Glen Keane (Disney animator) had with himself. "I wish I could draw hands better", he exclaimed as he worked to animate Ariel while working on The Little Mermaid.

This is one of my attempts to draw hands a little better.

Avatar for Website | Digital

I created this avatar and designed a simple site for LollipopiPadAppsforKids.com. Eyes and expressions are always a challenge, though so rewarding when things finally click.

Tinkerbell | Watercolor and Digital

Tinkerbell was a project that I used to help me grow in my ability to allow the watercolor paint to mix on the paper. I didn't like the original background, so I threw in a little digital pizazz.

Funny Frog | Digital Illustration

Here's a character that I created for FrugalCard.com. This little project took me nine hours, which included a few moments where I just wanted to give up. I stuck it out, finishing around 1AM, and created something that I really like. I hope you do too.

Cat with Yarn | Sketchbook

Here's a sketch from my sketchbook that sort of evolved out of a single gesture line.

Bear | Pencil Sketch

Here's a bear from my sketchbook. I doubt that I'll ever do anything with him, but I thought he was cute... and hope you do too.

Merida from "Brave" | Pastel Portrait

I saw "Brave" a several weeks ago, and loved it. I thought I'd take on a portrait of Merida.

If you're interested...
This portrait was created with NuPastel pastels and Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils on Canson paper. I also used SpectraFix fixative throughout the process. The underpanting for her hair was put on, and then smudged. The final layers were applied without smudging to maintain the vibrant color.

Tropical Birdies | Digital Illustration

I'm giving the Illustrator/Photoshop thing another go. I sketched the bird on a plane trip back from South Carolina, and later took it to color.

If you're interested...
The images was created with flat color first in Adobe Illustrator. In Photoshop I added highlights and shadow with a brush and the smudge tool.

Jiminy Cricket | Watercolor

I had a request for Jiminy Cricket from a family friend. I knew from the beginning that I would be giving this one away, but I still had a hard time letting it go.

If your interested...
I transferred the image to 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper, and painted Jiminy with a #10 round brush. For the background I used a flat brush first, and then used a sea sponge for a second layer.

Santa with Pack | Pastel

Santa didn't have much time to pose for me, so I hope I captured his likeness to your liking. This one is a project for mom. Her house is full of Santa's all year long.

If you're interested...
Santa with His Pack was created with NuPastel pastel sticks on Canson paper.

Beautiful Woman | Portrait Drawing

My wife gave me a coupon for a haircut at Great Clips. I never made it to Great Clips, though the image of the woman on the coupon was striking... and thus yielded one of my first portrait drawings. Woo Hoo!

If you're interested...
This drawing was created on Stonehenge paper with several pencils including a Prismacolor 8B woodless pencil for the hair.

Rider and Crop | Steinback Ornament

Here's a pencil sketch of a Steinback Christmas ornament. Most people like lots of color, but there's something to be said for spontaneous pencil sketches. It only took me about 20 minutes to draw, but I love the way it turned out.

If your interested...
This drawing was created with a Prismacolor 8B woodless graphite pencil on newsprint.

Princess | Pencil Sketch

  Disney recently created a series of collectable princess dolls that my wife got pretty excited about. Steve Thompson (Disney Store designer/artist) created some amazing watercolor illustrations for the box.

Here's a princess of my own with my super groovy Palomino Blackwing Pencil - very nice darks!

Octoberfest Guy

Octoberfest Guy is a character illustration that I created in Adobe Illustrator for a Seal Beach Yacht Club flyer.

I don't drink, but... Cheers!

Yes Mom, I'm Practicing | Digital Illustration

I teach music lessons, and am fortunate to have some pretty terrific students, but I'll bet they make this face every once in awhile.

I create images in Adobe Illustrator all the time. This is one of my first attempts at adding shading and highlights in Photoshop.

Wurst Brat (Octoberfest) | Pencil Sketch

Here's a quick character sketch for a Yacht Club Octoberfest.

One Giant Leap!

Lots of doodling... and now a giant leap toward sharing my art with the world. Here goes!