Paul and His Beast

I am excited to share a wonderful middle grade chapter book, Paul and His Beast. Written by Sarah Stup, the book is about a sixth grader with autism who is working hard to be successful in a regular middle school.  It's a great story and gives the reader very thoughtful insight into what it's like to have autism.  

I was honored to create the cover and interior illustrations for the book.  The photo above shows the printed book and I'm including some of the interior illustrations below.

 

Sarah Stup is an author with autism.  To read more about Sarah, her writings, visit her website at sarahstup.com.  Paul and His Beast is available through the site as well.

Inktober 2015: Drawings 30 and 31!

We made it!  Thanks for following along with my 2015 Inktober challenge.

During the month, I discovered a few things.  I found out that it was easier for me to come up with the ideas for 31 drawings than it was to find the time to complete them! And since there was no time to over-think what to do for each piece, I learned what I like to draw, what I draw easily, and what I want to work on.  I'm glad I participated.

Here are my last two drawings for Inktober 2015:

Inktober 30, 2015

Inktober 31, 2015

Inktober 2015: Drawings 27-29

For these three drawings, I'm pleased to present a mini-drama in which a little ghost learns to make a friend.  All are Higgins Eternal black ink (not waterproof) on Canson Mix Media art paper.

Inktober 24-26: Ballpoint sketches

These three Inktober drawings were created with a Bic Round Stic Grip ballpoint pen in fine/black.  I love sketching with ballpoint because it's ink that can travel with me anywhere.  I drew 24 and 26 in a new little Apprentice sketchbook by Baron Fig (link). It's a perfect pocket size and the paper is very nice!  It holds up to a lot of drawing.

Inktober 24, 2015

Inktober 25, 2015

Inktober 26, 2015

Inktober 2015: Drawings 22 and 23

I'm posting these together because they are similar to each other but different than the group I shared in the previous post.  They seem to want their own space.  22 is drawn with pen and ink and 23 is drawn with black ballpoint pen.  Both are wearing romantic dresses of the Edwardian era.

Inktober 22, 2015

Inktober 23, 2015

Inktober 2015 Continued: Drawings 15-21

Here's the next batch of Inktober 2015 drawings.  I'd say I can't believe I've been behind on these all month, but the sad part is that I do believe it.  But I also believe I can still catch up!  I can at least catch up with posting them. :)

Inktober 15, 2015

Inktober 16, 2015

Inktober 17, 2015

Inktober 18, 2015

Inktober 19, 2015

Inktober 20, 2015

Inktober 21, 2015

Inktober 2015, Drawings 12, 13 and 14

I'm not yet caught up with Inktober 2015, but I have not fallen farther behind either! Here are the next three drawings:

Inktober 12, 2015

Inktober 13, 2015

Inktober 14, 2015.  Emma and Mr. Knightley.

More Inktober 2015: 8, 9, 10, 11

Here are the next four drawings for Inktober 2015:

He needed to be pointing at something!

Pen and ink on Canson illustration paper

Black ballpoint in a Baron Fig sketchbook

Higgins Super White ink on black illustration board

Inktober 2015, Drawing 7

Inktober 2015, drawing 7

I drew this with a crow quill nib (Hunt 102) and Higgins Eternal ink on Canson Illustration art paper.

Inktober 2015: 4, 5, 6

I should probably post these separately but I keep forgetting!

Inktober 4, white ink on black board

Inktober 5, ink and ink wash on watercolor paper

Inktober 6, ink on watercolor paper

Inktober 2015: First Three

InkTober was started by artist Jake Parker as an ink drawing challenge for the month of October.  You can find out about it on his site here (X).  In its simplest form, it's making daily ink drawings during October and posting them online with the hashtag #inktober.

I've not participated in the past and had not planned to do so this year either.  But I draw in ink!  I felt like at least doing a few drawings would be a good drawing experience and would keep me from feeling InkToberLazy.

I don't know how many pieces I'll have time to do, but I've done three so far.  I hope I can surprise myself and do all 31 days!

Inktober day 1, 2015.  Pen and ink on watercolor paper

Inktober day 2, 2015.  Pen and ink on Canson Illustration paper

Inktober day 3, 2015.  White ink on black board.

Edwardian Lady

I love the Edwardian era for its beautiful fashions, hairstyles, and hats.  Basic info on the era can be read here (X).

From my sketchbook

Pencil sketch

Pigma Micron pens with colored pencil

Illustration Friday: "Garden"

"Walking at Pemberley"

Inspired by a request from an online art friend, this was drawn with a 00 brush and Speedball Super Black ink on Canson Illustration paper.  I drew it quite fast;  as usual I was running late for Illustration Friday!

Illustration Friday: Sharp

"The Flowered Gown"

I thought this week would be ideal for another figure drawing/historical fashion combination illustration so that's what I created.  Originally I intended it to be funny, which in a way it is, but not in the silly way I originally imagined.  I worked harder on it than I had planned and it took on a life of its own.  So I decided against giving it a funny name and present it here as "The Flowered Gown".

I used Higgins Black Magic ink drawn with a Hunt 102 (crow quill) nib on Arches Aquarelle watercolor paper.  The watercolors are from my mixed-up collection of Grumbacher and Winsor & Newton.

Here are the reference photos I used:

The figure drawing site I used is here: (Link)  The site seems to have changed or is being reconstructed because as of the time of this post it doesn't work properly for me.  I'm including the link because the site has been great to use in the recent past and I'm sure it will again soon.  It's weird that the pose is a big Viking guy and I wanted to draw a woman, but the axe was perfect for this week's "sharp" theme and I liked his expression.

The site I used for historical fashion is The Metropolitan Museum of Art's site here: (Gown Link).

Thanks for visiting!

Illustration Friday: "Vacation"

I'm so late on this that there was no time for ink to dry before painting on it!  So I shaded it with lines instead.  This was drawn with 0 and 00 brushes and Speedball Super Black ink, which is easy to find and I think makes nice lines.

Souvenir Plates for the 140th Preakness Stakes

This year's set of hand-painted Preakness Stakes souvenir plates is done and delivered!  I've been commissioned for the past several years by the Maryland Jockey Club to create gift plates for the owners of the horses entered in each year's Preakness.  I really like this plate design, although the border of little squares took a LOT longer to paint than I expected it to!  The design is based on elements of this year's official Preakness logo.

I use Folk Art Enamels to paint these.  The simple, white plates were purchased at Pier One.

There are 8 horses entered in this year's race.

This plate is for the 2015 Kentucky Derby winner.

Illustration Friday: "Ruckus"

Haunting a House

The address has been obscured.

This is a custom haunted house portrait that I recently completed.  A client sends me a couple of clear pictures of their house and I draw it in pen and ink as a whimsical, creepy-cute haunted house!  For this one, my customer wanted their address included in the art and their dog chasing a black cat.

This was an 8"x10" paper size to fit in a standard frame.  I used Strathmore watercolor paper, a crow quill pen (Hunt nib 102) and Higgins Black Magic ink.  Here are a few process shots:

First pencil rough on left, Photoshop edit on right

Retraced final sketch

Transferred to watercolor paper and ready for ink

Inking in progress, address obscured

I do these custom house portraits through my Etsy shop.  For now the listing there is for 4x6, but 5x7, 6x8 and 8x10 can be requested.  Below is another completed house, this one at 6"x8".

The ravens were my client's idea!