Art Blog

Illustrate Gabby Likes to Talk

Painting

initial masking and background setup for watercolors — little girl with fantasy background laying in of background washes.

Steps to illustrate Gabby Likes to Talk, by Julie Anne Ford. I use watercolor resist to hold out areas needing to remain white. It sure makes the painting easier and faster. You can see this shiny yellow masking material on the surface of this painting.

layout of a little girl in a fantasy background — painting backgrounds in a watercolor painting

First I lay in thin glazes as a wash in the background. The bright colors filling up the big areas really quickly begin to bring the main character’s ideas to life by revealing their outline shapes. I don’t mind doing repeated layers to achieve a specific look.

fantasy creatures behind a little girl talking at the dinner table — paint objects and subjects – 3D shading and form

Now adding form and details to the main subjects will get that 3D shading thing to start happening.

The frisket is removed next. I am not able to share a finished image with you on this blog without causing problems with the author’s copyright. The book is available on Amazon.com.

Gabby Likes to Talk Here is a picture of my desk with multiple illustrations being painted for this book. I tend to do characters all together in their different positions so I can get them all to look the same.

children's book done — children’s book done

Little Children’s Book

This delightful little children’s book is about a little girl that has a vivid imagination and loves to talk and talk and talk. It is by a talented Australian author named Julie Anne Ford who has many years of experience working with little preschool-age children. It is entitled, “Gabby Likes to Talk“.

Roughs

These are the messy ideas that I put down as I read through the text. Many times I am not sure if the author can really tell what all of the items in the sketch are but these usually spur us to communicate much better. Sometimes, the author will take one look at this rough sketch and suggest a total change. But, most of the time this sketch is presented and it allows open and productive discussion between myself and the writer.

A picture is truly worth a thousand words when you are trying to talk about images and concepts with a writer. Sketches make it easier to figure out what an author really wants in their book.

Final Roughs

rough pencil sketch little girl and fantasy scene behind her — rough sketch

It is at this step that I clean up and remove the unnecessary items, allowing a cleaner layout to look at. Changes are usually requested at this stage if they are needed.

little girl with collage of ideas behind her — final rough sketch

For example, the author suggested that the little girl should have her left arm extended above her head in this sketch instead of resting behind her head. I think it was a great idea because it does create a much more open and inviting hand gesture as she is speaking to us.

Chalk Portraits of Jesus

There are 6 original chalk portraits of Jesus at our church sale, the first one is already sold.“Missions Boutique”

for the Country Church of the Open Bible

here in Elk WA at The Firehouse on Hwy 2
35007 N. Newport Hwy
Friday: starting at 9am till 7pm

I practice with chalk and black paper doing the highlights so I don’t get too used to seeing only the dark shadows which is what I spend the majority of my time illustrating with for books and b&w drawings. Highlights vs Shadows, try it and see how opposite it is for your brain to exercise this way.

Jesus Looks Different

Have you ever noticed that the face of Jesus throughout history has been similar to whatever society the painter lives in? If you think about it, this is only right because we have never really seen His face. There are no portraits painted of Him during all of His travels, there are no photographs taken of Him while He was on this earth. We have no selfies of Jesus. When we draw and paint Jesus, it is from feelings in our heart and soul estimating what we would see in a Man/God coming to save us. We use the male faces in our lives to render this person in our heart.

In Northern Europe, Jesus tends to have a very Caucasian slender face with light hair (straight or a little wavy). Moving South He morphs into curlier darker hair and skin. Going into Paul’s region of travel He becomes more like the people in Turkey or Arabia with a dark slender face and more prominent nose. Jesus is painted as a black man, in the museums of Africa.

The most amazing thing about all the portraits of Jesus is the sense of “awe” that is in rendition. You can tell the artist is trying to relay a very important feeling.

Children’s Pencil Portrait

This children’s pencil portrait is complete showing personalities in a garden setting. Rendering in pencil is a favorite medium for me. Thank Goodness, artists are allowed to make adjustments to make the composition work better.

Jpeg — IS two young girls pencil portrait initial layout.

You can see that in the reference photograph with the two young ladies standing by a garden light post. The lamp light is positioned right between their heads which, interferes with seeing their faces clearly. Additionally, the reference photograph also has the girls standing on different ground levels. So, the layout is adjusted so that they are on the same ground level and the post is raised a little higher above their heads.

two young girls with lamppost pencil portrait — two girls pencil portrait

I work on the darkest details first and just keep adding shades till the portrait is complete.

children's portrait — Granddaughters of an author I have illustrated books for.