How to use this Page

A working knowledge of anatomy will give any illustrator a solid foundation upon which to hone one’s drawing skills. The possibilities are infinite, as along as you begin with the basic skills first.

Case-in-point:  Check out this interview with multi-talented artist Edel Rodriguez here. Then check out his portfolios and blog here.

Note the variety of moves he applies to his character, Sergio, a penguin who loves soccer!

 All illustrations © Edel Rodriguez

There's nothing like a sweet game of basketball amongst the sweet smell of flowers.

What do you think of when you hear the word "Balance"?
If you said it compares the right and left side of the composition to it's visual weight then you're correct.

What do you think it means as an illustrator?
It's components such as position, color, how they contribute to the balance.

Here's the two options of balance "Symmetrical" or "Asymmetrical".

This illustration allows you to divide the image in half and each side is equal composition and pulls the eyes to the center means it's "Symmetrical".

www.rdchildrensbooks.blogspot.com www.rdchildrensbooks.com

What's missing in this illustration? I'm going to let it be a surprise in the final illustration. Quack! Quack!

Here's another lesson in story-boarding. What is the beginning? It's where the author and illustrator sets up the character, location, and the conflict.

Dynamic stories grabs the audiences attention with a hook.
Can you guess what the hook is in this illustration? Does it leave you asking questions?

Remember visuals are important to hook the audience. Where they want to know what happens next in the story.

www.rdchildrensbooks.blogspot.com www.rdchildrensbooks.com

Thanks to all the people who have emailed and commented about the Illustration business tips in December. I’ve left them up for about 5 months and am now turning them all into an e-book (that will include other goodies). I “hope” to be launching it May 1st so stay tuned for the link! Thanks again!!

Every day in December I will be posting Illustration Business tips. Just a thank you for all your support, friendship and encouragement over the year. I also might throw in a giveaway or two! Any particular thing you want tips on? Just leave a comment. See the bottom of each post for Q&A on each topic.

Being a children’s illustrator there are some colors you need to use consistently. Skintones, grass and sky are a few ones. I create my work in illustrator and photoshop so I’ve created a page in Illustrator that has all my consistent colors I can easy pull from with the eyedropper tool in each program. It’s nothing fancy, just a one page document with color squares. I keep several copies of the document so I can always have it handy. I keep a copy on my tower hard drive, external drive, laptop and my flash drive.

When I work with paints, I rarely mix paint to create these consistent colors and if I do, I mix up a big batch so I know I will have enough for the entire project. Especially if I’m working on a book. My overlay painting and shading my differ some, but my base colors stay consistent.

In finding fun color combinations, there are some online color palette sites to help you find different kind of combinations (I’ve heard a lot about this one), but I tend to scan them from magazines, fabrics and paint sample chips that have a color combination already put together. When I’m out an about, I take pictures with my iphone if I find a combo I like. I keep all these in one big document too.

It’s just easier to pull up one file that has all my colors on it and be able to use it in all my applications.

Anything I left out on color palettes? If you have a specific question – I’ll take them over on my Facebook page so everyone can read the Q&A. Look for the #13 dot for the discussion on this post. I’ll see you there!

TOMORROW: Tips on social media.

v– please consider sharing this post with your illustration friends by clicking “Sharethis”