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The dimensional illustration blog of Suzanne Del Rizzo
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I am so excited to share that Skink on the Brink(Fitzhenry & Whiteside), written by
Lisa Dalrymple, and illustrated by me, has arrived at the Fitzhenry & Whiteside warehouse! Lalalalaaa!!
There it is smartly sitting on the desk of my editor and publisher, Christe Harkin.
" Hi Stewie!"*waving*
Lisa and I will be visiting F&W this Monday. :). I can't wait to hold it in my hands!!!
It should be in stores in just a few short weeks.
This all happened yesterday, so I am unfortunately a day late with my June 2013 desktop calendar....geesh, I was kinda distracted, but you understand-right? Sorry guys!
In honour of Skink of the Brink's release, my June 2013 desktop calendar features the one and only... Stewie the skink. As you can see he is very excited to meet you guys too.
To download, simple click on your desired screen resolution listed above, then right click and select "save to desktop".
The launch for Skink on the Brink will be organized in the coming week, so please check back for the details, we'd love to see you there! :-)
Hi guys, the Next Big Thing is a global blog tour, started in Australia, to showcase authors and illustrators and their current work. I was tagged for The Next Big Thing Blog Tag by the very talented author/illustrator, Peggy Collins.
I thought, as an interesting twist, I would share my tag with Lisa Dalrymple, the author of Skink on the Brink, illustrated by ME, since it is due out at the end of this month-YAY!! We are super excited!
1) What is the working title of your next book? Skink on the Brink
2) Where did the idea come from for the book? How did you come up with the final character illustrations for the book?
I love words and language and try to play around in everything I write. I wanted to write a story and cast in it an animal we don’t see so often in picture books. As soon as I heard the name Skink, I knew that was it. I mean just listen to it: skink. It made me laugh just to say it, so I knew I had found my little guy.
After reading Lisa's manuscript I left it to float around inside my head for a bit. This foot tapping, singing skink had such a great personality that the ideas practically flew out of my head down through my pencil. I really enjoyed capturing all the emotions Stewie went through on his journey of self discovery. I sometimes made faces in a hand mirror to get just the right expression, when sculpting my plasticine Stewie.
3) In what genre does your book fall?
It’s a children’s picture book, subtly educational.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Kermit the Frog should definitely play Stewie. He may be more amphibian than reptilian but he more than makes up for that when he starts singing, “It’s not easy being blue-I mean grey-no wait red.”
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
This is Stewie the Skink’s story about self-esteem and change, as Stewie grows up, his shockingly bright blue tail fades to gray and he has to discover just who he is when he can no longer call himself “Stewie the Blue.”
6) Who is publishing your book? Fitzhenry & Whiteside publishers in Toronto.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? How long did the illustrations take to complete?
I researched for a couple of months before writing. The first draft probably took me about a week, but that was soon followed up with about 18 months of subsequent drafts and revisions before I considered submitting it.The roughs, rom initial thumbnails to tight rough sketches took a few months, and then the really fun final artwork created in plasticine, took approximately 4.5 months to complete. Each illustrations took anywhere from 20-40 hours, depending on complexity.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Well, seeing as it is the fourth in the Tell Me More Series of picture books by Fitzhenry and Whiteside, there are certain similarities between it and Kazaak, Tooter’s Stinky Wishand Bye-Bye Butterflies. Each story has its own unique qualities but includes an educational component and two pages of backmatter that extend the informational elements of the story.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? What inspired our illustrations for this book?
The Carolinian population of the Common Five-lined Skink is Endangered in Canada – an Endangered Species of lizard in my own backyard (or at least where I camp out) that I had never heard of! I knew I wanted to know more. The more I researched, the more I heard a little voice singing in my ear, “I’m a skink on the brink of extinction, I think.” There was no turning back.
Due to the cross curricular component of this book, as it is part of the Tell-Me-More Storybook series, I wanted to ensure that the habitat of the five-lined skink, including vegetation, predators and other animals found in their habitat, was accurate, so I really did my homework. Ontario has such a great variety of animals friends and foes to choose from that it was often hard to choose who to include in my illustrations- just look at my big stack of reference photos!
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
Stewie’s story is a familiar one to all Common Five-lined Skinks. The juveniles of this species do have incredibly bright blue tails, the colour of which fades as they reach sexual maturity. Mature males also develop bright orange or red jaws and chin, particularly during breeding season. It’s no wonder Stewie is having an identity crisis!
Also, like other lizards, skinks can shed, or autotomize, their tails when they’re attacked. I had no idea that the tail actually keeps moving in order to confuse the predator so the lizard can escape. (It grows back at a rate of about 6mm a week.)
Hopefully, after kids read this book, they will be inspired to go outside, go on a nature walk or go camping. Who knows ,they might even recognize a few of Stewie's habitat friends or, if they are very lucky, they might even see Stewie himself. :)
In the nick of time, here's my May 2013 desktop calendar, featuring another illo from Skink on the Brink(due out so very soon!!). We have had a nasty stomach bug here, with one kiddo home from school today,so this post will be short and sweet. I hope you enjoy the desktop! :-)
I just love to see artists colour palettes, mixing trays, and colourful test papers. It gives a tiny glimpse into the thought process inside their creative brain. It's fun to see how a colour scheme is fleshed out, knowing lots of experimenting and play went into each piece of artwork or illustration.
The colour palette above is the one I created while making the final art for Skink on the Brink. It ended up flowing onto a second page too...I like to mix colours myself, and with this book I wanted the colours to be quite earthy, and natural. I even kept real leaves collected from my cottage to compare against my hand mixed plasticine colours.
You can see my colour palette on the wire thingy above my art table. I like having it within arms reach, if I need to add another colour mixture, or if I need to remake a specific colour.
And of course, I had lots of pizza to keep me well fed...LOL...kidding, those pile-o-boxes on the right under and on top of the table are holding my finished illustrations- keeping them safe from the curious little fingers of my 4 munchkins. From the amount there I'd say I was only about half way through the final art. The boxes were double in height once all of the artwork was complete.
It's April 1st, and you know that means...time for a spiffy new desktop calendar, and that's no foolin'! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter long weekend.
This month's calendar features the always adorable (and always ready for his close-up) Stewie the skink. This is a snippet from one of the interior spreads from Skink on the Brink. Can you believe the release date is next month?! We are SUPER excited!!! Stewie is too. Believe me, he worked hard to get this April feature. He kept my shoulder(s) toasty while I worked, serenaded the kids to sleep, dusted the studio (who knew a sliding skink on a Swiffer pad was sooo effective?), and he even rapped for me, it was one cool ditty to a very funky beat -that skink can throw down some mean rhyme, and bust some moves!
With the book release scheduled for May (YAY! :-D) everything is getting "Stewie-fied" around here. We plan to whip up some fun Stewie bookplates, and some other goodies, that Lisa and I would love to sign to personalize your book. If you have any special requests, Lisa and I would love to hear them, just send me an email or leave a comment.
To download your own desktop calendar simply click on the required screen resolution above, right click, and select Save To Desktop. Oh, and FYI... if you hear a little voice and foot tapping coming from your computer screen, don't be alarmed, it's just Stewie...;-)
I'm glad that March is just around the corner, it is tomorrow in fact! I don't know about you, but I am ready for Spring. I have had just about enough of the soggy sidewalks, stinky wet boots, snow shovelling and now I am dreaming about warmer weather, sprouting plants, and...book launches :)
Yep, the launch date for Skink on the Brink is getting closer- May 13th! I am super hyped!
This month's desktop calendar definitely has a more "Springy" feel. There is lush greenery everywhere and a new baby-a mommy with her new baby elephant. I created this illo for the author of Skink on the Brink,
Lisa Dalrymple. Her sister is having her first child, a girl! Yay, congratulations! So after some consultations between Lisa and myself, we decided on an Asian elephant theme with some pink flowers to compliment her nursery.
I think elephants might be my new favorite animals to sculpt in plasticine, or at least a close second to skinks of course ;)
Creating all of those yummy wrinkles and leathery skin was really fun.
To download your copy just click on the screen resolution link you require (links are underneath the illo) then right click and save to desktop. Easy Peasy.
Have a great March everyone.
It's that time of month again- free desktop calendar time! I had such a great time creating the previous process post that I thought it would only be fitting to create this month's desktop calendar using the same illustration. It might be a bit early for such a Spring-y illo, but I couldn't resist. Besides, with all of this crazy weather lately, it's hard to know what season we are in. I think my bulbs were trying to poke through the dirt, only to be flash frozen the following day...geesh. If you'd like to read more about how I created this illustration( for my first picture book, Skink on the Brink(Fitzhenry& Whiteside), written by
Lisa Dalrymple, due out this May!) please check out the
process post.
To download simply click on the screen resolution size you require above, then right click and save to desktop.
Enjoy!
This has been such a terrific week, with my artwork for Skink on the Brink( written by the lovely
Lisa Dalrymple) making the cover of
Fitzhenry & Whiteside's Spring 2013 catalogue. I have been floating without my feet touching the ground since then, which makes for a very peculiar looking happy dance, let me tell you ;)
This illo below is also featured in the catalogue on the Skink on the Brink page( psst see pg 4!).
I thought it might be fun to show the process of how I created it.
The first step was to cover the illustration board with colour blocks of the background colour.
Yes, it looks like a bit of a mess at this point but it was all about getting the colours onto the board and making sure I had full coverage( for a full bleed illustration). So we have the sky at the top, some grassy hills in the background and some green and muddy parts in the foreground.
The next step was to start from the furthest part of the background and start working forward. In this case it was time to put on the trillium leaves....lots and lots of trillium leaves. And yes, each single leaf was done by hand. That little tool just off to the right is just perfect for grabbing a wee bit of plasticine and, when it is pressed down, it creates a tiny leafy shape. One of my favorite tools. Trees were added, as I continued working forward.
Many hours later the background leaves are all down.The trees have texture and highlights, to give dimension, and the foreground ground cover goes down.
Stewie was sculpted off to the side and put on top. Next the foreground trillium leaves and stems are laid on, but not pressed down yet. At this point I know some of the white trillium flowers will be overlapping with the stems to be more organic, so I left these leaves just sitting on top of the plasticine.
Then after wiping off my hands, to get rid of any dark plasticine( as it can transfer to the white, and we don't want dirty white trilliums, right!) I was ready to start adding all of the trillium blooms. Starting again from the back and working forward, I added each trillium petal, one at a time. Next the squirrels, deer mouse(keep a look out for that little guy) and yummy crickets were added( sshhhhhh. they are hiding, I don't think Stewie has noticed them yet?).
And finally, after some final tweaking, everything was pressed down gently and the illustration was complete! YAY!
I'm so beyond thrilled to share some big news!! On the cover of
Fitzhenry and Whiteside's Spring 2013 catalogue is....drum roll please..... artwork from Skink on the Brink!
Lisa Dalrymple and I are so honoured and super excited.
Here is the image that they used for the cover:
It is actually interior art form the book, a double page spread, so it gives a wrap around effect- cool eh! To see the full jacket just click on the jacket link under the cover image at the link above.
To see the entire catalogue (psst... check out page 4), which is jam packed full of highly anticipated books, that I personally can't wait to get my hands on, please click on the Children's portion link under the cover image at the link above.
Here is the cover illustration. As you can see the left side will wrap around to the back, so room has been left on the lily pads and in the water for text. The right side of the illustration is the front. And yes, I also did the lettering in plasticine.
Mark your calendar, it will be out this May!!! Lisa and I can't wait to share this book with you guys!!
Happy New Year! Can you believe it is January 2013? Where does the time go?
Here is my January 2013 desktop calendar. If you'd like to grab yourself a copy to download simply click on the desired screen resolution size above, then right click "save as desktop".
I thought this tobogganing illo was perfect for January. The kiddos and I have been a regular fixture at the local hills since we received the first snow of the season last week. Gotta get as much sledding in as we can while the snow lasts, right?
I don't know about you but this past year seemed to fly by at lightening speed. It was just last January I drove out to Fitzhenry & Whiteside with sample illustrations in the back seat, to meet with Christie Harkin, my editor, and Cathy Sandusky to share my initial ideas for Stewie the skink. I was SO nervous! This was my first picture book contract, after all- a dream come true. I had a lovely day meeting with Christie and Cathy, and many of the friendly FitzWits staff. Even the resident cats strolled by to say "hi" and get some cheeky rubs. Although I think they were more interested in curiously inspecting my art boxes. Luckily none of the artwork was squished or "floppled upon" during my visit. ;)
Since that day, I have been busy working on the roughs, then revising, and revising and revising and now...after lots of fun(erm...work?- hard to call it that when it IS so much fun) I am pleased to report the plasticine illustrations for my first picture book Skink on the Brink, written by
Lisa Dalrymple, are complete. Lalalalaaa!
We had the test photo shoot just before Christmas with my photographer Heather, of
Heather Hogan Photography. Heather and I were super excited about the shoot and the results look fantastic, I can't wait to do the final shoot.
I hope to post some process blog posts, once the book launches, to share some of the many things I have learned along the way illustrating my first picture book. So stay tuned for those.
Here's to a successful, happy and adventurous 2013 everyone :)
Can you believe it is already December? We were surprised with our first dusting of snow last night, and the twinkle lights are popping up all over the neighbourhood- sure signs the holiday season is here!!
So being in the festive spirit, I created this super festive December desktop calendar.
I thought I'd try an animal I haven't made before, surprisingly I haven't make very many dogs? Huh... strange I know. I've made lots of plasticine skinks ;), birds, raccoons, and wild animals, but hardly any pets. So this wrinkly, squishable and oh-so-huggable little doggy, with antlers and a not-too-tacky Christmas sweater to keep him toasty, is for all you pet lovers out there. :-)
To download to your desktop, simply select a link above, then right click and select save to desktop.
Enjoy!
It has been an exciting few days. I'm super excited to let you all know that Skink on the Brink(Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Spring 2013) is now listed on Amazon!! I must have danced around the kitchen for a full 30 minutes after I saw it. Here is a screen capture of it, just "cuz" :)
And I should also mention that my friend and the author of
Skink on the Brink,
Lisa Dalrymple just had the launch for her first picture book
If It's No Trouble... a Big Polar Bear this past weekend in NL. Way to go Lisa, I can't wait get my hands on a copy. Here is the Amazon listing for it:
I asked my editor, Christie Harkin if I might show the proposed final artwork for the cover.
So... here it is. Ta-da!! As you can see, Stewie the skink is quite the little character. He even likes to dance, but you will have to wait until the Spring to see for yourself :)
So lots happening behind the scenes here. All of the interior artwork is almost finished, and ready to be photographed. I hope to share some sneak peeks with you really soon! Stay tuned...
My October 2012 desktop calendar is ready. With the fall colours beginning in the neighbourhood, and the cooler days and nights, it is truly feeling like Fall. This month's calendar is from my new Fall promotional mailer, which I just ordered from
Moo. If you have never tried Moo for postcards, promo materials, or cards, I highly recommend them. Their products are simply stunning. We are eagerly awaiting next weekend to head up to the cottage for our annual Thanksgiving weekend. I just hope the fabulous colours haven't passed their peak. I'll be sure to post some pics :)
It's back-to-school time once again! Wow, summer sure flew by, didn't it? I have been making lots of foliage, flowers and ground cover lately.Yup, it's for some of the final art for Skink on the Brink. The illustrations are coming along nicely, and with the kids back in school next week I will have more uninterrupted time to "get in the zone"Yay!
So in keeping with my thinking about all things leafy, I thought I'd make the quintessential Fall Canadian sugar maple leaf. I just adore the deep crimson red, especially when the tips start to go darker... just beautiful! I also switched things up a bit this time and hand lettered the calendar in plasticine.
I hope all your kiddos have a great first day of school, and Fall brings you lots of good things. :)
To download a desktop calendar simply click on the desired resolution link under the image then right click "save to desktop". Enjoy the calender!
I'm off to bake a cake and pie. It is my 3rd son's 7th birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Little Man!
Check out the new sidebar widget I put up over to the right. Yup, that's it- the Canadian Wildlife Federation widget. One thing I cherish most about Canada is our beautifully diverse wildlife. And it is in trouble. There are already 52 endangered mammal species with many more animals at risk. I'm proud to show this sidebar widget in an effort to bring more awareness to the Canadian Wildlife Federation.
I have to give my mom a nod here because she introduced us(my sister a I) to the idea of conservation, to love and respect nature, from an early age. I remember she'd take us on nature walks and cross country ski treks through natural areas like Rattray marsh, Lake Ontario Parks and the Kortright Centre, to teach us about the wonderful wildlife around us.
I know I have said before how excited I am about my current picture book project- illustrating Skink on the Brink( Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Spring 2013) written by Lisa Dalrymple.
Stewie, the main character, has carved a special place in my heart. He is a five-lined skink.
One of a kind.
He is the only species of lizard found in Ontario.
Well yes, he has a great personality and is so darn adorable, but he is also sadly on the Ministry of Natural Resources endangered species list. Stewie belongs to the Carolinian population of five-lined skinks that populate small areas along the shores of Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron. Sadly their numbers are dwindling due, in part, to habitat loss from agricultural, recreational and urban development.
Lisa was lucky enough to meet Stewie during a recent trip to Pinery Provincial Park.
Isn't his blue tail simply fabulous?
Tada!! I have my August desktop calendar ready early! Ya Baby!- can you tell we have been watching Austin Powers around here?
I hope you have all been enjoying the summer so far. It's hard to believe it is already half over. My second oldest son has his 9th birthday tomorrow *sniff* my, they grow up so very fast.
I few days ago I sent out a little request on FB asking which images come to mind when you think of summertime, and I was really pleased with your great responses. Thanks everyone.:) Lisa Dalrymple, the author of the picture book Skink on the Brink which I am currently illustrating, suggested I include some people, since I have been in "animal mode" lately. Great idea! So here is a boy doing a super-humongous leap into the lake- "KOWABUNGA!"
Nothing says summer more than kids having a fun time, finding creative ways to beat the heat.:)
On the picture book front, my final artwork is coming along wonderfully. But unfortunately I can't share any sneak-peeks just yet. When I get more completed perhaps I can show a few close-ups or something, after I get the OK. And I can't wait to show you all!! I'm so proud of this project.
Enjoy the desktop calendar! To download simply click on the resolution you require, then right click on "save to desktop"- Cheers!
Yup, that's right, it is final artwork time!!! I'm so excited to get started on the plasticine art. Can you tell? It has been so quiet on the blog lately and I didn't even even get a chance to make a July desktop calendar- so sorry everyone, but we made a last minute dash to the cottage.
So this is what is going on over here. I've been mixing and kneading lots of plasticine. It's a great way to keep the arms toned ;) I also keep track of my ratios on a sheet of paper, a sort of mixing chart, so if I run out of a colour I can refer back to it and make it again.
I'm SOOO excited to get cracking on the plasticine art...I think I already said that, oh well. I still feel like I need to pinch myself most mornings because I feel so incredibly lucky and honoured to be working on this picture book project. The story is such a perfect fit. And I have had such a wonderful time bringing Stewie the skink to life in my sketches from Lisa Dalrymple's fab manuscript. I still have a few revisions awaiting approval, that might need further tweaking. It has been a great learning experience to go through my sketches with my editor, Christie Harkin. She gives great constructive feedback, and our brainstorming sessions always leave me feeling energized with tons of great ideas. She totally rocks!!
For those of you who follow me on FB, you may have noticed a bunch of Stewie(the real Stewie) pics that I shared yesterday from Lisa's recent trip to Pinery Park. She shot some fabulous photos of him. And it turns out, after lots of searching with the naturalist outdoors, Stewie surprised them all by hiding under a desk in their office. Stewie found Lisa! That silly Stewie :)
I thought I'd try something a little bit different and include part of the initial sketch concept for this recent plasticine illustration. You might recognize the mouse hanging off the plant, he was featured in May's desktop calendar. If you would like to download this calendar to your desktop, simply click on the required screen resolution size above, then right click and "save to desktop".
Have a great June everyone. I'm excited to see our little garden start to sprout ;) Ahhh, the beginning of summer...
My brother-in-law sent me a cute FB comment today to tell me that my 2 yr old niece really liked the collages I made the other day, and he wondered if he might print them off for her to colour. Well, of course! How wonderful. :) Look at those expressive strokes, such confidence and flair! Here are her masterpieces below:
When her 6 year old big brother got home from school, he wanted to colour some too. After an hour of intense concentration he finally finished his great works of art. What can I say, I am one proud Auntie Suz at this present moment!*gush* I just love to see my nephew and niece(and my kiddos) being artsy- so good for the soul. I love his great use of colour and the attention to detail. Here is his fantaaabulous creation below:
Aren't these great! Hmmm....I think perhaps a companion colouring book to go along with the picture book I am illustrating, Skink on the Brink(Fitzhenry &Whiteside) written by Lisa Dalrymple, might be a fun idea?! What do you think?
If anyone else would like to print the
collages off as colouring pages, please feel free. Just click on the link and right click on the image then save/print. If you do wish to print them off, I would love it if you could take a pic of the completed masterpieces and share them with me, my email can be found on the right sidebar! I'd love to show them on my blog. :)
I know it has been rather quite on my blog lately, but believe me there's lots going on behind the scenes. As many of you know, I am in the process of illustrating my first picture, Skink on the Brink (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) written by Lisa Dalrymple, and it's due out in Spring 2013. It has been a very amazing experience so far! I am loving every second of it.
I have been wanting to share with you some of the sketches I have been working on during the rough sketch revision process thus far. So with the thumbs-up from my wonderful editor, Christie Harkin, I have created some collages from tidbits of my sketches, to give you a sneak peek of Stewie the skink, some of his adorable friends and other interesting characters. Keep in mind these are rough sketches, so there will be changes/tweaks during the revision process. ;)
Here we have a collage of some close-ups of the our little skink, Stewie. Isn't he a character? He is a fun loving, toe-tapping charmer, with loads of energy and perseverance.
And here we have a collage of some of the animals that Stewie encounters in the story. Some are friendly, and some most definitely are not...
I hope to be able to share more as I go:) Especially once I get going with the final plasticine art....I can't wait!! I'd love to do some process posts, to show some of the illustrations from concept sketch to final art. What fun! Heeheee ;)
Happy May Everyone!,
I couldn't resist using one of the fun mice from a recent illustration I created for my children's nursery school annual fundraising gala. There have been quite a few "mice in boots" desktop calendars lately...hmmm, maybe I should change it up a bit for next month? This little guy was begging for a close-up. Their fun, exuberant personalities do bring a smile to my face, and I hope they do to you as well :)
To download please click on the required scene resolution above, then right click on"set as background". Easy peasy!
Lots going on behind the scenes, I hope to share some of it really soon.
Bye for now
I taught a plasticine workshop in late February for the Nursery School CO-OP organization in my area. My children had attended one of these schools, and I still keep in touch with the lovely ladies that teach and run the school. I had gone into their classroom to do a workshop with the JK kiddos, and they were kind enough to welcome me back to give a workshop to all the teachers in the organization. Turns out I am WAY more nervous talking to a group of adults then a bunch of kids-ekk!
Anyway, while I was there, I was asked if I might be interested in designing and donating a plasticine illustration to their annual fundraising Gala. Well, I was honoured and excited to get started. This nursery school is simply outstanding. Not only are the teachers phenomenal, they're so patient, caring and nurturing. I was continually amazed at the imaginative and interactive ways they would introduce new curriculum to the students- BRAVO!!!
So my illustration idea began when I saw this adorable photo posted on Facebook by
Alma Fullerton, a CANSCAIP and SCBWI CanEast friend. Oh my gosh, how scrumptious is this little mousy?!! Well lots of us thought so, by the comments left on her page. But my editor, Christie Harkin, tagged me and said she thought this would look great in plasticine. " Ooooh yes, it most certainly would!! I love a challenge" I said to myself- yes I do talk to myself aloud quite often ;)
So I got sketching, and I tried not to copy, but rather be inspired by this gleeful expression:
And of course, my little mousy has boots! Surprise, surprise, I love boots ;)
I composed a scene around this little fella, and once I was satisfied, after playing around with the composition, I got to work on rendering the sketch in plasticine. The really fun part. Here are some WIP pics with my iphone:
Here is my April desktop calendar. Isn't Miss Mousy a fun character to sum up all things Spring- rubber boots and all? It will be a very short post today, as I have little ones very "under the weather"...stomach bug :( and unfortunately, that isn't an April Fool's joke). I hope Miss Mousy brings a smile to your day and finds a lovely home as your desktop calendar.
Keep well my friends!
We had a relaxing March Break, which considering our usual hectic schedule, was a very nice change. My oldest had a hockey tourny the first two days with Daddy, but apart from that it was wonderful to just stay close to home, bike ride, and spend time together enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. We also took our annual March Break day trip to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. My boys(hubby included) love, LOVE anything to do with aviation, or military history etc. If you have never been to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, I highly recommend it! The kids can sit inside some of the planes and they also have simulators-very cool! We hope to go back in June to watch their annual air-show, we'd love to see the old Lancaster in action.
I also got a little work done too. Here is a little peek at my table top, I like to spread out all of my many reference photos when I sketch. Then I can quickly glance back and forth between them to get a better feel for the animal, yet continue to sketch organically. These are some rough thumbnail sketches for the book I am currently illustrating, "Skink on the Brink" by Lisa Dalrymple. I hope to share snippets from time to time, to share the process with you.
It is a balmy 19 C today so I think I will get a fresh mug of tea and take everything outside to the deck, to enjoy this warm weather...it won't last, I think we are due for frost in 2 days?? Crazy Canadian weather, eh? LOL ;)
Happy Leap Day!
Here is my desktop calendar for March 2012. My Leap Day gift from me to you :)
I couldn't resist using my Stewie the skink illustration for a calendar. He is the main character of the first picture book I will be illustrating!Lalalalaaaaaa, I love the sound of that! It's called "Skink on the Brink" written by Lisa Dalrymple, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, it is due out in Spring 2013. I am so excited!
To download this desktop calender just click on your screen resolution above, then right click and select "save to desktop". Easy peesy.
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4 Comments on What I have been up to..., last added: 4/14/2012
A good and informative post. I enjoyed both your comments, and your art work. Very unique and interesting children's book. I assume you work from home studio (children). I will return for a more in depth read of your blog.