I will have a large blog update on the process/creation of my latest commission piece.
Think …. ketchup bottle …. pig …. crappie …. football ….
What I’ve learned from this experience so far is that learned word challenges are everywhere.
This my Twoodle from two weeks ago. I am at a loss for all the words there were to choose from but boy did I have fun. As a kid I loved to draw the Charlie Brown crew & Snoopy, Spike & Bell were my favorites 
I chose the words: Snoopy, ballet, coffee and moon. I need to work on my tutu technique but other than that I had fun with the piece. I believe Snoopy’s shirt says it all.
This is this weeks Twoodle submission. The words I chose were marshmallow, cookie, tree, lollipop and fluffy. Again, I had a lot of fun working on this piece. I kept it in pencil to keep it “quick” and “simple” As soon as I saw the words tree and marshmallow I saw the marshmallows hanging from the tree. I toyed with making the tree fluffy but nah! I put lollipops sticking up out of the ground and dangling from the tree. When I thought about the lollipops on the ground I didn’t know where else I could go with it so…. I scraped that idea. Lollipops hanging from the tree wasn’t working either. There was gravity issue and how in the heck do they stay attached properly to the string. Agin, NOPE! Dog was a word choice but I just couldn’t envision that in my head. So I sketched. Doodled. Erased. Then ducks showed up and the piece came together.
From a blank page and a doodle this goose was created. It all started with the shape of his beak and grew from there. I think I went to far with his neck I should have left it smooth. The wing settling at is side doing nothing annoys me. It’s almost as he has a lame wing. I had to give him Big Bird legs it just seemed right and fun to sketch. All in all he was a good experiment. I will add him to future pieces.
HOPEFULLY …. coming soon my adventures in teaching art class.
This week’s piece contains items from two weekly art word challenges. Twoodle & Illustration Friday.
The Twoodle words this week were gecko – soccer – jacket – chartreuse – chase – flower – monster – daisy – yoga – gnome. I went with monster & chartreuse. While crafting this piece I felt the need to add a little something to the sky & for him to hold (light bulb) add an egg or four for the illustration Friday word challenge.
Here is my piece for this weeks challenges. I know the monster looks more alien BUT each monster I sketched was to creepy or scary. I did have one tearing through paper peering through & trying to get to the flowers it was just too creepy. I erased it & four other sketches until I went Alien. Figured Alien is just another name for monster. It’s a monster of another world …….
If you want to learn more about Twoodle here’s the link: http://www.lovetoillustrate.blogspot.com/2013/02/twoodle.html
If you are interested in Illustration Friday here’s the link: http://illustrationfriday.com/
Happy sketching everyone!
It all started with a special order request for a birthday gift. The request was to create a piece of art containing a hedgehog & clarinet.
It took some time to find my center with this idea. Then with a lot of sketches, online research and work I was able to create the following piece.
My artistic vision for this piece was comic strip/book type set up. I needed to capture mood and emotion. There needed to be a progression from sad, depressed & no energy hedgehog…. to surprised yet curious hedgehog …. Then happiest state floating with his clarinet & above sheet music. The human hand was a must because I felt it was the connection piece between the hedgehog and the clarinet. How in “reality” would the hedgehog meet up with a hedgehog sized clarinet. It needed the help of a human. Didn’t want to go the GIANT - HUMUNGUS hedgehog that was just too scary of a concept. It would make small children cry and adults run in fear. My choice the human hand, emotional progress of hedgehog and proportionally sized clarinet.
Here is the beginning sketch. Blocked out sheet of 9″x12″watercolor paper two smaller panels at the top and large at the bottom. Graphite pencil used as the baselines and detail.
Just a simple sad-looking hedgehog looking for something to make him happy. He seems to have lost his way. This human is the key to connecting him with happiness aka his feeling of completion.
Here is a close up of the sad little hedgehog. He was growing in detail and tummy folds.
Here he is nearly done. It was time to step away from him to see what was needed to make that cell *pop* Now I moved on to the next cell ….
With this cell I dove right in. You no linger see the human hand but are now left wondering “What does this hedgehog see to make his mood change?” I knew I wanted the face to take up the entire cell and at the same time I needed that coming life part; the surprise. The what comes next. What does the hedgehog see …
Here is what followed. The top two cells I needed to step away from and look at to see what they needed to feel complete. The little man on the bottom took the longest. I repositioned the hedgehog numerous time to get the best angle and what I felt the proper placement was for the clarinet and hedgehog. He basically did a 180 degree movement. It was little by little by little by little. Thank you to the creator of the 3B pencil I need the soft and light touch for the constant movement I had created. It really was the time-consuming portion of the piece because I needed to look at each setting until I felt it was right. With each move he became more relaxed, blissful and enchanted. I knew I didn’t want him just floating on a blank page with a solid background. I had thoughts of an orchestra, Pavillion shell, many little hedgehogs around who found their musical bliss. In the end I knew what it needed to focus on — the one hedgehog and his feeling towards the clarinet and music. The hedgehog’s bliss. At this point it was time to step away and see if it all worked the way my brain envisioned it.
I knew it needed a little something. It was too flat. There was no *pop* I contacted the buyer asking if I could add a touch of color. I could hear my pastels & pastel brushes calling to me needed to be a part of this piece.
I left color off the original hedgehog because I wanted to enhance the feeling of depression, lost way and sadness. In the next cell I added a touch more to help show his expression.
Everything is coming together. Color has been added. The bottom cell is more light, semi floating feel & piece with harmony.
Here it is all together with the feeling of *pop* completion & time to part ways.
Spray fixative applied. The tape is off without a single tear or paper pull. The pastels are setting with the fixative and the house has the scent of completed art work aka spray fixative.
This piece was then taken to Dick Blick. Where it was matted & framed. Packaged & prepped for shipping.
Quick run to UPS Store where the package was shipped to its new home.
The piece was completed. Art area cleaned up (for a small amount of time) & it was back to the weekly word challenges
The words this week were wrinkly, trampoline, owl, full moon, cupcake & princess.
I immediately thought of how silly it would be for flamingos to bounce on trampolines. I had many images pop up from comic strip form of flamingos jumping & the leaving in crutches. Another was an owl in tree hooting at the moon while a flamingo looked on quizzically. Then it hit me. What would really happen if flamingos jumped on trampoline … They are so tall & lean their legs must flail all over the place. They could get close to the moon & with poor planning could get stuck in a tree.
Here is my illustration for this week:
Here is another week of Twoodle. It’s a fun weekly word challenge & I’m proud to say I’ve participated 3 weeks in a row.
Here were the words that people threw into the word play mix: penguin, nap, chocolate, frog, sword, glasses, upside-down, corn, vision & lantern. The job of the artist who accepts th word challenge is to pick 2 words out of the mix & create.
I went with: lantern, chocolate, frog & sword. When I saw these words my ‘image factory’ started processing it all. I knew right away I liked the frog & sword concept but didn’t know I’d be taking it to another level & adding in chocolate & lantern. As I started processing the words the image of a little kid popped into my head. This is a very imaginative kid who makes the choice to wear Halloween costumes whenever the feeling strikes & isn’t afraid to go into public looking unique (probably inspired by my kids) he has a huge plastic frog that he carries around like a sword. Also, because he’s afraid of the dark her carries his lantern everywhere. Today he’s getting reading to take on the puddles that were created by the huge rainstorm the night before. He’s suited up & ready to explore.
Here’s myTwoodle contribution:
I haven’t participated in Illustration Friday challenges in a few months. I’ve been missing it but either busy or couldn’t “see” the word in my brain aka image factory.
Then last week an artist I follow/chat w/on Twitter posted sketches she had done on post-it notes …. this inspired me & my image factory started working as I started doodling. I figured I had stacks of post-its & it was easy to grab n go. I gave myself a few rules w/this new venture … no erasing, relax, let it happen & make a basic line to begin.
These are what I came up with a few minutes every night starting last Thursday turned into an image factory warm up for the day or a way to end the night. I’ve been sketching consistently every day. I know, I know it’s only a few days BUT it really wasn’t happening every day b/c life took over & I allowed it to take over. This post-it note idea made it more accessible.
Here’s the art that came from a few days of post-it note art. A few of these feature faces w/eye glasses which therefore meets the criteria for this weeks IF word challenge. Hope you enjoy my experiment. I know I have been enjoying it
