the first illustration in a long while.
i'm trying to rebuild my illustration portfolio now that i think i've improved some over the year of painting commissions and paintings in general. obviously, i'll still be painting commissions and such, but now it's time to go back to the roots, the children's illustrations.
i have a couple of ideas for the next one. i was thinking mermaid, in a tea pot, while a kid tries to feed it bugs or something. i dunno. it was an image i had while falling to sleep the other night. i have weird images like that a lot and i think, oh i need to remember that. and then the next day i think, what was it i needed to remember? and i think, there was a mermaid... and a fishbowl. oh yes! and it all comes back. my mind is a strange place to visit. but here's a mellow piece of it. this is the illustration i did yesterday.
i'm really quite proud of it because it only took me one piece of paper. you laugh, but some days i can go through four sheets before i'm like, well, this, this is not working today. the shadow wasn't planned. but i really like the texture it gives to the flat wash of the ground.
fred hates me because i make him pose in weird positions for me while i take pictures from the angles i want. ok, fred, look like a kid who just found a worm in an apple in a tree but is intrigued by it not grossed out. in the end, i posed for this one after i sketched out the angle i wanted fred to photograph. i say, hey, this is why artists have kids. to make them pose for paintings. (oh, and do chores. oh and so you can do fun things like skip again because you've got a kid in tow. and oh, to take care of you when you're old.) fred says our kids will hate me. that's natural, right. i heard on tv once that if your kids hate you then you did a good job. believe EVERYTHING you hear on tv.