A moose in progress

Well, I'm thinking it's probably my turn to contribute to this blog. I have been working on a couple of educational books that will be used in the classroom, so I will show you some of what I have been doing. You can click on an image to see it larger.

There are 23 pages in each book, and the first thing I do is quickly sketch some thumbnails of what is in the book, just to get an idea of what I will be drawing. These are so rough that I am probably the only one who can tell what they are.


The two characters in the book are moose. I did lots of moose drawings with various items of clothing as suggested by the art director. I really thought the two legged moose was the way to go since they were anthropomorphized. This would allow them to fit into the various scenes in the book easily. The art director felt the same, but after much discussion the other powers insisted that they wanted four legged moose. I didn't think this would be nearly as fun looking as a two legged moose, so I had to keep reminding myself of the Golden Rule. "He who has the gold, makes the rules."


I go through SO many sheets of copy paper drawing things over and over till I work everything out. I am glad copy paper is so cheap and I do recycle it all at the end of the project. Here is the sketch for page three. During a phone conversation with the art director I was told to add a stream to the picture. There were lots of changes. It seems nothing is really nailed down in the story. Anything is subject to change if it would make the story better. I repeat the Golden Rule again as I add a stream.


I am a blend of old school and digital. I really like to draw with pencil on paper, and I really like the feel of inking. I put a sheet of vellum over my pencil sketch and ink it in using the old crow quill and india ink. The boo-boos I make in inking are easily cleaned up in Photoshop. I used to have a big jar of white out that I used all the time... but no more.


Here is the scan I made of the line art. This is scanned as black & white art at 300 dpi. Then it is converted to CMYK for coloring.


Here is the finished colored page. I like that I can color the black lines on some things like the mountains to push them back and leave them on the moose to make him pop out. They like the books to use lots of bright colors. I do a bit of tweaking to the color and make some soft clouds, but the coloring is pretty basic. Nothing too fancy here. After I had finished the color on the whole book, I received one more change to make throughout the book. The farmer hat needed to be changed to a plaid hunting hat. Fortunately, with Photoshop this was a fairly easy change. So that's it! This isn't rocket science, but maybe someone out there will find it interesting.

My Portfolio Facelift

Here's a little of my work in progress.... I refer to it as a portfolio facelift, partly because portfolio tummy tuck doesn't sound as good. These were created with the goal of not only being new portfolio pieces but also mailers with an impact. I focused on dynamic points of view and expressions. Read on and enjoy.

Jack and the Beanstalk


The Princess and the Pea


Rainy Day


The Tea Party


site: www.maryuhles.com
blog: www.fabulousillustrator.com

'Walking Through Walls' is a work in progress.

   Being a new contributor, as of today, I wanted to share my current WIP, Walking Through Walls, by Karen Cioffi (releasing May 2011 from 4RV Publishing). Most of the same post will be available on my own blog, directing them to here too, so that I can introduce my current readers to this blog, as well.

Walking Through Walls is an MG (middle grade), novel re-imagining an old Chinese folk tale. There are ten chapters, and I have finished  seven, so far (one illo for each chapter). Here, I share two completed illos (chapter one and chapter five), and the last illo, a rough from chapter nine. As a matter of fact, I had hoped on finishing these up prior to the release of the ARCs, but I just couldn't work that fast (only had a month to do the design layout, the research on Chinese period clothing and harvesting tools, the sketches, and completed illustrations). So the reviewers will see seven completed illos, and three roughs. Oh well. It's an ARC, so it's acceptable.

I do tend to gravitate toward high contrast looks, but in this instance, I am paying homage to the ancient oriental paintings. The one done in black ink with nothing more than a stiff brush. The style is mine, and more modern, but I wanted the feel of black on black, like those.

Cover blurb:

Wang longs to be rich…and powerful. At twelve-years-old, he already knows more about the Eternals and their way of life than many of the adults in his village. Learning about these mystics takes his thoughts away from the possibility of working in the wheat fields all his life, like his father.

Wang has far grander goals.

MG/Tween/YA

ISBN: 978-0-9826594-7-2
Available June of 2011 (ARCs available now, for book reviewers - contact author or publisher for more info)

Now, let's look at the illos...

In chapter 1, we see Wang working hard in the wheat fields, in the hot sun, with his father, loading bundles in a wagon.

In chapter 5, Wang comes face to face with the Master Eternal and two student mystics, after a long, arduous journey.

Now for the rough...

In chapter 9, Wang is scheming how to use the magic the Master taught him, to steal from a rich merchants house.

As you can tell, compared to the finished pieces above, I have a bit of refining to do. Plus, there are two more 'roughs' on my drawing table that need finished, as well. This one will be time consuming because of all the detailing that needs added in the wall and doors, and the tree leaves. But that's okay, I have a perverse attraction to intricate patterns ... lol.

Thanks for letting me share my current WIP. I welcome any and all constructive comments.

How To Illustrate A Puppet

Being asked by Robb Killen of Killen Creations to illustrate four children's books was not only flattering, but challenging as well. You see, Robb's main character Webster is a puppet in which he uses in the Nashville Public school system third and fourth grade classrooms to teach lessons on dignity. He also has a club titled the P.O.D. Squad (People Of Dignity). Webster also has a DVD series in which all of his co-stars are humans! Therefore, when sitting down with paper and pencil in hand, my little friend was easy enough to draw, but what about his human family and friends who were written into his books? After drawing them "human-like", Robb and I decided to "puppetize" them (if there is such a word)! Here are the sketches I came up with for the first book about "Feelings" where Webster goes on a camping trip with his Uncle Charley and his cousin Roy.

2011 SCBWI NY Conference

The 2011 NY conference was such an inspiration! Here are a few photos & ramblings from the POV of a Midsouth Illustrator in the big city! 

Nashville was NOT snowy but NY was, so I got off to a late start...

  

I stayed with my daughter and saved the big bucks for the NY hotel room. I missed late night chattering with my friends... but oh well!

 

Wow! That Leonard Marcus Tour of famous sites in Children's Books was just amazing. Here are a few pictures so you can see what it was really like.

Grand Central Station- inspiration for many

The Children's Entrance to the NY Public Library

The most famous stuffed animals I know of.

Wall murals in the children's room

Original Charles Scribner & sons Building where Children's Publishing in America, began.

This fountain sculpture in Rockefeller Center was sculpted by Rene Paul Chambellan. He also sculpted the reliefs for the Newbery & Caldecott Medals!

Original home of Simon & Schuster & later, Golden Books

 

Plaza Hotel, Home of Heloise

The tour ends in the Tea Room by Heloise's Gift shop in the Plaza. Here is Genetta Adair, Midsouth RA, me, & Sharon Cameron, Midsouth Conference Coordinator. Fortifying ourselves with hot chocolate before the looong walk back to the hotel.

Next Day the Conference begins!

 The official SCBWI Conference blog does a MUCH better job than I do of talking up the details, so check it out at :http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/
and here is another link to highlights, mostly of keynotes:http://tinyurl.com/4hrkdvo 

After a full and inspirational day we gather other Midsouthers for dinner, stories & laughter.

Clockwise: Cheryl, me, Martin, Genetta, Rebecca, Sharon

Sunday: Last day of the Conference

I WISH I had gotten to congratulate Leeza. She was gone before I could catch her. Her work is fabulous and I was thrilled for her to win the Illustrator Showcase!