The flamingo has to jump great heights to avoid being eaten by the alligator.

The frog blends in with the grass, so if he jumps low, he’ll be safe too.

This image was done in CMYK mode, where surprisingly, the colors are much brighter. It prints with nice bright colors too. Usually colors dull when I switch from RGB to CMYK, not the other way around.

This picture is a new version of an old image I did in 2004. When I heard the prompt this week was puzzled, I immediately thought of this image because it’s always reminded me of a puzzle in the way it looks and how I pieced it together the first time. The original image was done February 26, 2004, as part of a year long project. For a whole year (366 days because it was leap year), I drew/painted a cow a day. This image came towards the end of the project, when I was trying to find more creative ways to draw my daily cows. Here’s my first image:

I’ve always liked this drawing … probably because I always liked the poster that inspired it. When I was trying to think of a cow to draw that day, I remembered a movie poster by the Stenberg Brothers and decided it would look cool with a cow instead of a person. Here’s the Stenberg Brothers poster for the 1929 movie A Fragment Of An Empire:

My first image is almost a direct representation of the original, although bovine themed and with English words. The one I did today still recalls the original, but when you look at them side by side, they’re very different. The new image is closer to my style both now and when I used to be an abstract painter.

My style was, and still is, influenced by graphic images in advertising and art. In 2008 I did another series of cows that played with the idea of using a single cow and a simple palette to create multiple graphic images. They aren’t directly related to any art or artist, but the style is influenced by graphic art images. Here’s the first cow:

And here’s a sample of the cows I created off of this one image and turned into my own poster. I actually like them better all together, rather than as separate images. Still need to get this poster framed …

BTW, I first fell in love with the Stenberg Brothers when MOMA held an exhibition of their art. I worked there at the time and would look at the posters every day. I think it might be the only catalog of a show that I purchased. I don’t work there anymore, but if they ever have a Franz Marc exhibition, that might be the second catalog I buy.

What art styles and artists are you inspired by?

The girl and her moose friend love to sing and dance!

Needless to say, Sam is stunned at the turn of events. Here’s a close-up so you can see Sam:

I also did this image for my friend Jen, who has a  birthday today, and would probably rather have cake than green eggs and ham! It was fun to start the month with Dr. Seuss’s birthday and end the month with my friend’s birthday. Happy Birthday Jen!

p.s. If you want to see the other Dr. Seuss art from this month, here are some links:

The Cat in the Hat, and His Brother

Oh, The Places You’ll Fish!

Horton Hears A Who, and a What, Where, Why, When, and How!

Sue Sews Six Thousand Socks

This week, however, I’ve moved away from his art to show my style.

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is Swamp. I combined that with Sue from Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. (Sue is SWAMPED with sock orders and has to sew six thousand socks!) Fox in Socks is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, and I’ve always liked Sue, so it was fun to re-imagine this part of the book. In case you’re not familiar with the original, here’s what Mr. Fox says when Sue enters the book:

New socks.

Two socks.

Whose socks?

Sue’s socks.

 

Who sews whose socks?

Sue sews Sue’s socks.

My Sue has similar hair and clothes to the one in Fox in Socks, but she likes polka-dots and sewing lots of socks. They’re not all for her though, because really, who needs 3000 pairs of socks? Not Sue. You’d be swamped if you had to sew six thousand socks too! (Note: not all 6000 socks are pictured here, because that would have made me more than swamped. It would have made me crazy to draw that many in such a short time.)

Who is Sue sewing socks for? I’m glad you asked.

Sue sews Sue’s socks, because with that many, at least some of them have to be for her!
Sue sews Moo’s socks, because Moo helps keep the thread from tangling.
Sew sews Lou’s socks. (Lou is the dove on Moo’s back, the one saying, “coo coo.”)
Sue sews Who’s socks, right away, because Who has owl things to do.
Sue sews Foo’s socks (a.k.a. Bunny Foo-Foo).
Sue sews Boo’s socks … not really, ghosts don’t wear socks (or at least Boo doesn’t).

The original sketch had a few more characters, but it got too crowded. Here’s a close up of the bunny:

Bunny Foo-Foo was fun to draw and I love how his socks turned out. Another character that was fun to draw was Moo:

You can tell by the expression on her face that she thinks Sue is crazy for trying to sew six thousand socks, or maybe she is getting sick of having thread wrapped around her horns. Moo has striped socks because I thought they’d be a nice contrast to her spots and I liked how the blue and white stripes looked on her. It’s hard to see, but Lou also has striped socks. They’re blue and yellow.

If someone asked you to sew six thousand socks, would you do it?

I wouldn’t. I leave the sock sewing to Sue!

Close up of fish in car, boy, and Yield Sign:

I love to combine ideas and prompts to create pictures. It’s a fun illustration exercise. For me, it’s similar to the writing exercise where you get a list of words and you have to find a way to fit them into a paragraph, or a scene. I think I like it because it forces my mind to make connections between things that I never would have thought of otherwise. Those connections sometimes spin off into more ideas, which create even more ideas, if you’re lucky.

Have you ever combined ideas/prompts for an illustration exercise or a writing exercise?

This is more of a sketch than finished art. If you look closely, you can probably see the pencil lines I forgot to erase. Also, I used a new ink that for some reason faded to grey in places (won’t be using that ink again). I added the color digitally. Overall, I like the image, even with the ink weirdness.

Are you doing anything to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday? Today is also Read Across America. Go ahead, celebrate both of them!

* If I have time, I’m going to do Dr. Seuss inspired art once and week in March and post it on Friday. Hope I have time; this was fun!

** Dr. Seuss never mentioned a brother for The Cat In The Hat, but since most cats have more than one kitten, I decided he had a brother, or maybe it’s his sister.

The Owl and the Pussycat

I did a pencil sketch before the pen and ink version. Not sure which one I like better, so I’ll post the sketch too.

They’re pretty similar, except the sketch has more stars and more fish.

What have you been drawing lately?

There was lots of great advice about marketing your work and the workshop was geared towards people that had books out or would have them out soon. I think there was a lot of info that’s useful to pre-published illustrators as well. Here’s a smattering of my notes and the points I thought were particularly useful. Some people talked faster than I could write, so the quotes are paraphrased.

John Rocco:

*Put your website URL in your trailer so people can find you after watching it.

*Expect nothing from your publisher (for promotion) and think of things that you can do to help the book (trailer, bookmarks, coloring pages, local contacts, etc.).

*Book trailers don’t have to be snazzy. You’re an illustrator; tell the story.

*Be kind. Be generous with your time and work, with bookstores and at signings. Be sincere.

Dan Santat:

*Build a network of peers: sincere relationships are very important.

*Blog consistently, at least once a week, so people will keep coming back. Talk about your work, but talk about other stuff too.

*Uses or has used different sites to promote his work (Flickr, Tumblr, Blog, Facebook, Illustration Friday), but says: You can do as much social networking as you want, but your work is what’s going to get you jobs.

*Handmade feel makes trailers more appealing.

Sophie Blackall:

*If you like doing something, find a way to call it work (like her blog to book: Missed Connections).

*If your stuff isn’t out there, it won’t be seen.

 Dan Yaccarino (on giving presentations):

*Know your topic (research even if you think you know it).

*Know your audience (kids, adults, kidlit people) and tailor the presentation accordingly. Sometimes the ideas/content for audiences overlaps.

*Don’t sign a cast or anything else or you will have to do it for everyone. Kids have a keen sense of fairness.

*Don’t shake hands with the kids. Fist bump and then Purell so you don’t get the flu.

*Be flexible (what if your computer goes out?).

*Drawing during a school visit is like a magic trick to a kid. If you can do it, do it.

 Michelle Fadlalla:

*Make the package you send stand out so that people will be interested and will review it. It’s also good to know who the right person is to send it to, instead of blanketing everyone in the industry.

*Anything that the publisher offers, take advantage of it.

Deb Shapiro:

*Have patience. It takes a long time to build and develop your presence. It’s about the long run, not the sprint. Patience and hard work will get you there eventually.

Jed Bennett:

*Let your publisher know what you can do for them. You have to be the biggest champion for your book.

Saturday and Sunday: General Conference Notes

Jean Feiwel:

*This is a bestseller business. You have to make money for the company (most of the time). Your work needs to have a commercial appeal.

Barbara Marcus:

*There is some balance. If you’re going to publish Jaws/Twilight/Harry Potter, you’ll have room for a quiet book or a first novel, but there’s only so much room for those.

Rubin Pfeffer:

*Your content should touch the heart and soul and/or the funny bone, no matter how you write it.

Cathy Goldsmith:

*The best books happen when there’s dialog and the author, illustrator, art director, and editor all give and take a little.

*Don’t waste the publisher’s time by doing art in a different style than what is in your portfolio (unless you talk with them first and they okay it).

*Do character studies and development before sketching scenes/spreads from the book.

*Pacing is always important in a PB. (My Note: Pacing is important in MG & YA too.)

*You need to think about continuity (how details are presented throughout the book) so the publisher doesn’t catch it later and you have to change it, or they catch it too late.

 Cassandra Clare:

*Forbidden love is usually forbidden by family, society, or because it’s dangerous.

*The almost, but not quite, forbidden love isn’t that interesting.

*Your audience will like it, the more tension there is, and the more forbidden it is.

*The Buffy Problem = teen in love with a supernatural being hundreds of years older.

*Solution = put teen in a position of power to balance age/power issue.

*Note: characters many years older (hundreds) better than say a 55 yr. old and a teenager because 55 yr. olds are adults. Nobody knows a 700 yr. old, which makes them timeless.

*Love triangle: what you want is an actual love triangle, where the two love interests have a relationship with each other as well (friends, brothers, etc.). It makes it more complicated and interesting.

*Make sure each arm of the triangle has equal weight and is just as interesting as the other.

*People want tension and high stakes, and to not know what’s going to happen.

*The kind of love story that’s fun to live is not fun to read about.

Lin Oliver:

*If writing for a younger audience (PB, CB, MG), take the word, “love,” out of it and replace it with, “friendship,” to create tension.

Martha Rago:

*Strong characters that feel real and will be likeable in a universal way and relatable way will endear them to the reader. Readers respond to a well defined character whether it’s in a series or a one-off.

Samantha McFerrin:

*Start the story right away. No need to set the scene.

Peter Brown:

*If you’re going to make it in this business, you have to be an idea factory.

Brett Helquist:

*There’s a danger of becoming cliché and doing the same thing if you always draw from your head (talking about how he does lots of photo research for sketches, to grow, learn, and to get different features and faces so his art keeps growing).

Dan Yaccarino:

*The story of the book is a character’s needs. How can they get what they need bu the end of the book?

David Gordon:

*Your success is directly proportionate to your ability to take rejection.

Note: Cross-posted to my other blog.