Did I mention, Art should be fun? I am having FUN

Did I mention how much fun I am having?

sketch, monster getting bit while trying to steel a pet rat

So anyway – working on this project is way more fun than getting hit by a car, twice. Wait, have I mentioned that I’ve been hit by a car? Twice? Well two different cars both while I was riding a bike? – not the same bike different bikes…and different cars – different years – and different drivers… I don’t think they knew each other… both times it was my fault. I did however learn two big lessons –

1) I am stupid

2) I want to be in the car the next time I get hit.

3) I don’t want there to be a next time.

Author’s not: There are three kinds of people, those who can count and those who can’t.

But wait – this is supposed to be about illustration, e-books, writing, apps, formatting, tablets, e-readers, illustratin, art wor doing, etc.

The story is about a monster

I am still working on the E-boo/ Monster app. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the story is about a monster that keeps steeling the household pets, and the boy just doesn’t notice.

The sketches are for an iPad / iPhone App

Ok, Status: All of these monster sketches are for an ipad / iphone app that I am making. It has a story, is interactive, in color, animal friendly, eco friendly, kid friendly, and car friendly…. It will have friends. but you know what? SPOILER ALERT! It might not be really successful. But will I learn something. Yes. Am I enjoying the precess? Yes. Does the little voice try to get me down? yes. Do I let it? NO! And HEY! Maybe it will be a HUGE success. Feel free to cross your fingers for me. 

And have fun, do some artwork.

Photoshop tutorial for artists and illustrators

Digital Painting in Photoshop is still a best seller

Photoshop E Painting finished When switched over to Photoshop 5 I thought it might be nice to offer another tutorial.

This is a little sketch I did on my ipad with my finger – I’ve gone paperless by the way – I never intended to go green but when technology makes it easier to use than paper…

I’m calling this painting “Class System”. I find it ironic that often it’s the working class/poor who are much happier in life than the rich who control everything but still turn to drugs, alcohol, and suicide. Oh no – I actually have something to say? This is weird.

Digital Painting in Photoshop Tutorial

 

It was a lot of fun making the video course for  Digital Painting in Photoshop and it has been very successful but it was good to do the sequel. I call it Part 2. Part two was a lot of fun too, and it is very informative for illustrators learning to illustrate in Photoshop.

Photoshop E Painting in progress, almost done.

Getting the colors right

Just trying to get the colors right – this piece was a challenge because there isn’t a lot of warm light which means almost everything needs to be on the cool side. I usually like to light things with a warm light and then use cool shadows and cool reflected light. Very traditional I know.

Photoshop E Painting in progress, adding some warm colors

It takes patience even when you know the process

Here it was pretty slow going but I’ll get there. Here I am just starting to add lighter values and colors and trying to figure out my color scheme as I go. One of the advantages of working digitally  is testing colors on “throw-a-way” layers.

Photoshop E Painting in progress, under painting in cool colors

a Multiply layer

I’ve now added a “multiply” layer and started to work color into the background using the airbrush with the “texture” turned on in the brush pallet. The texture is a scanned texture I made with acrylic heavy gel medium and black and white acrylic paint.

Photoshop E Painting in progress, black and whit, values added

I added the value on the ipad using the airbrush tool.

I want to try to figure out where all the dark and light areas are going to be before I start adding color. This is crucial because once you get deep into the color process it’s hard to fix value problems.

Photoshop E Painting in just starting, line drawing

Starting out with a good line drawing and a composition

Fix all your problems in the design, not as you go. You will be glad you did.

 

Book Signing his Picture Books – LA

Book signings are a lot of fun for authors and illustrators

My good friend Will here is just loving the opportunity to meet his fans and attending a book signing. One of the things you will love most about being a children’s book artist going to the book signings and meeting fans and signing books that they can’t wait to take home and read to their kids. If you look real close at our blog and our website, you will soon see that my good friend, Will Terry is the more talented and more famous artist here. I, Wayne Andreason, the other Folio Academy guy, don’t have hoards of peeps asking me to sign anything yet. But I like road trips and fortunately Will and I get to do a lot of cool stuff together. Bro time, if you will.

Book Signing for artist and author at the CTA

Will Terry and Helen Ketteman at the CTA Book Signing in LA

A few years ago, Will was invited to attend a big convention and book signing op for the CTA (California Teachers Association) in L.A. Two years in a row they chose one of his picture books as their spot light book I guess.  He was chosen to be the CTA illustrator in conjunction with “Read Across America” and the CTA chose Armadilly Chili to be their “RAA” book for the state of California for 2010-2011. It was such a great gig because they print up posters, conference folders, pencils, stickers, and for Armadilly – mugs, T-shirts, a plush Tex, and even an apron. Also, Helen Ketteman the author of Armadilly Chili was there to sign books and she’s a hoot. That woman has more energy than the sun!

Sun shining through the city-scape of LAWe were lucky enough to go hang out in LA and eat good food. An awesome road trip on the tax payers dime.

We signed books that evening, well his book signing deal not mine, but I was there helping get books out for people, keeping the line steady, crowd controlling and that. It wasn’t quite like a Justin Bieber concert but it was busy. Then were up at the crack of dawn to sign books all day Saturday. About 1000 teacher reps fly in from all over the state for their council meeting and most of them buy the books to take back to their districts for the upcoming read across America day on March 2nd.

“I was so lucky to get this opportunity!” ~Will Terry

Wayne In font of a cool old vacant diner in or near Vegas

I was so lucky to go too and to share in the fun. We stopped in Vegas to visit family and eat. It’s hard to believe it was so long ago. ~Wayne Andreason

How To Illustrate Children’s Books

It is easier to Illustrate Children’s Books when you know how.

This has been one of our best sellers and most watched video courses.

Doing artwork and illustrating in your spare time.

Cover of How to Illustrate Children's Books, the Art Lesson Video SeriesWill Terr worked on this video series while his kids played xbox and his wife caught up on her reading. It was a choice between relaxing doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and taking my turn cooking OR…Making a video series. It was a toss up – on one hand he’d get the satisfaction of cleaning and watching his kids mess it up again or creating something that he had been thinking about for quite some time.

We are all glad he let the kitchen go and created this wonderful art lesson.

Video is a much better medium for showing someone exactly what you mean

I’ve put quite a bit of work into my college picture book class but I always thought I could do more with it. In class the images that I show are static and often leave me feeling that I could have done better. Video is a much better medium for showing someone exactly what you mean in many cases. Don’t get me wrong – I demo in my classes but sometimes you just aren’t prepared or equipped to do exactly what you want. I’ve tried to include just about every aspect of the children’s book making process in this series to provide viewers with a basic knowledge of what they need to work on.

It has been nice to help others learn Narrative ILLUSTRATION

0001bIt’s definitely not perfect but I’m proud of the work I put into it and hope that it brightens the lives of those who want to learn more about narrative illustration. Perhaps this isn’t your cup of tea but if you know anyone who might appreciate it send them a link.

picture of some character development Thanks and have a beautiful day.

ART SHOULD PLEASE THE SENSES

ART SHOULD PLEASE THE SENSES

Language like art, is a means to illustrate and get your point across. Think about it, art appeals to the senses, or grates on them. It’s all about pleasure and pain. Some artwork is painful to experience. Art can appeal through sound, smell, sight, taste and touch. Some things are more provocative than others, and some are more successful than others. A nice meal, a massage, a pleasant aroma, a beautiful painting, or music is ART.

HANSEL AND GRETEL

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Hansel and Gretel images are in!

Well today is the day – I’ll be adding images as I receive them. If you haven’t been following over the past few weeks I decided to post images from anyone who wanted to participate in the assignment I gave my college class. To catch up – scroll down and find the first post on November 8th. It’s always very interesting to see the variation in style and concept that comes from different artists. I was going to try to finish an image for this assignment but ran out of time and got a nasty cold as well. That’s my excuse – good story huh?

I’m going to give a few observations for each piece but I won’t be able to give a comprehensive critique on all of these images. I think it would be great if you guys want to give your opinions as well – I only ask that you do it tastefully. Art is so subjective and I certainly don’t have all the answers. Stripped of innuendo a typed comment can easily come off the wrong way and we don’t want anyone to feel worse for having participated. Lets make it fun!

Really nice work Cameron – strong overall design and a fun twist on the story. The layout is easy to read and understand – I think the concept would work even better if the girl was eating closer to the boy. Hansel and Gretel are in some ways one character as far as the story goes and separating them begins to turn ambiguous. I also think it would be good to be able to tell that the house is made of ginger bread or graham cracker or something like that – perhaps icing could be seen in the seams.


This piece comes from Von Brimhall and would make a nice vignette in the story. You have a nice feel for creating energy in the bird and great contrast between the bird and background. I think you could create a more subtle transition to black again or fade to white. The scratches above and behind the bird are really bold – they draw attention when they should help create relief. More detail on the feet would help to finish this into a really nice piece!


Andrew Finnie has a hauntingly beautiful style and his image for Hansel and Gretel brings us face to face with the reality of this grim tale. We are so insulated from the raw stories once told to children around the world. I really like all of the details found around the room – they add visual flavor to the concept – the cat in motion is wonderful. I’m having a hard time understanding what the old woman and girl are doing. We can clearly see the boy trapped in the cage and looking for a way out – great. I love the glowing light in front of the old woman – I just don’t know why it’s there.


This is a great piece from Kari Larsen – I love the mood she has set with the color and dark values, dark birds, trees, contrasting with the light innocent skin tones of the children. The scale of the large tree also creates good contrast showing how vulnerable the kids are. The children really look lonely and scared with older brother doing his best to comfort little sister – great story telling! More delineation on the edges of the foreground tree would be consistent with background edges. More attention could be given to the construction anatomy of tree roots in the foreground tree – in keeping with your style. It would also be nice to see more light on ground below children helping to define dark side of children. Bringing children up or adding more image at the bottom would give you the space you need. Great Job!


This art is from Aaron Anderson. This is a fun take on the story – inviting house, cute kids, enticing treats…I’m sold – I want a piece of this house! I think it would be more comfortable compositionally to have included the entire figures of the children…and I think this piece could have more impact if there was a more direct level of focus/movement controlled by value – I forgot to mention this in class today but if you preserve the brightest whites for the most important areas – or area. We also had a debate about whether the kids would venture into the house with a witch standing in front – conceptually I think it would be better to make her an old lady but make it clear that she has ulterior motives.


Nice work Michael Nikola! This guy usually paints in oil but can also get that really nice painterly look in photoshop. :) This piece has a really nice mood set with evening sun and contrasting shadows. We get the feel that even though this might get scary everything is going to be ok because big brother is watching out for little sister. Nice color harmony overall. I think you could give more of an indication of the distant house – perhaps centered in the symmetrical negative space you provided – or left out and give us more trees going back into the distance. A careful attention to anatomy and detail in the foreground would tighten up and bring focus and interest into your work. Nice.


This is a really cool style by Eric Arballo. The simplicity of form is charming and very readable. A good style for children’s books. Creamy pastel colors and texture give unity consistently throughout this piece. Right away I get what part of the story we are in. With more attention to anatomy on the figures, less demand would be placed on the viewer to decide if the figures are children or adult. Dropping the hill down would give more room to see some of the father’s legs. Love the simplicity of the crow – nice shape design.


This is a fun piece from Rani Bean. A fun overall composition – sweeping foreground tree leads the eye in a circular direction. A fun house shape and interesting characters make your piece very unique. The figures feel a bit low as their hands get close to the edge of the image. Dressing up the house with recognizable candy would help with the overall storytelling. Strong shadows on background trees would be consistent with shadow from house. Lightening values on the figure’s faces would make them seem more alive.


This one comes from Emily Decker. I think if I were walking through the forest and happened on a cottage like this I’d be in the old lady’s cage in no time. A strong foreground and misty middle ground gives drama as the forest fades away in the distance. Good storytelling with the figures – I get the sense that the older brother is trying to convince the sister to venture further. I like the moody mist but I wonder if it is carried too far? I didn’t think of this in class but without explaining where the mist is coming from I think it tends to be more than what is necessary to tell this story. Foreground trees should probably have the same focus as the children. While I know that the kids are going to be darker because they are in the foreground I think you pushed this a little too far. More light on the kids could bring more life into them. If you want to keep a strong silhouette you could bring the sky down behind them – a part in the woods.


We have a late comer! This beautiful piece is fromAngela Matteson – She’s a children’s book illustrator and package designer from Columbus Ohio. Using the story of the three little pigs is a fun way to spice up this vintage story. I love her quirky stylizations of these characters. The piglets are lured by cupcakes, cookies, and huge candy apple. I love the cookie shutters – I wish there were more hidden goodies like that – perhaps the roof line, edge of house could have decorative treats? Flower bed? I wonder if the lower left corner of the illustration could bring the eye back up with some sort of object – path, foliage, etc. Fun illustration!

Better late than never – here is an image from K.H. Whitaker – wife, mother, grandmother and aspiring children’s book writer/illustrator. I love the feel of this piece. The candy is so inviting I’m thinking about sneaking over there and taking some myself. I also really like the textures on the fabrics in the old lady’s clothing. This has a really nice traditional feeling for the original story except I feel that the witch isn’t witchy enough – she’s so sweet. I think the grandmother in you is too afraid to scare these young ones – the original story isn’t very friendly and actually isn’t compatible with children’s literature today. I feel that the background starts to get too dark…scary but perhaps would help the tree and house stand out more if lightened a bit. Thanks for letting me post this.

FIND TIME TO WORK ON HANSEL AND GRETEL

Monday, November 22, 2010

Find time to work on Hansel and Gretel


If you’ve already started working on a Hansel and Gretel piece congratulations! If you don’t know what I’m talking about check a few posts down – I’m going to post image creations from anyone who wants to take on this challenge. I’ve already received a really nice piece from Von Brimhall – Way to go man!

Here is a cute piece from Carl Offterdinger way back in the 1800’s.

To my class: In between turkey naps find time to work on your assignments – you’ll thank yourself later.

Project due date: Dec 8th when I’ll post all of the images I receive in jpeg form right here on my blog with a short critique.

MY FIRST ACRYLIC PAINTING IN 7 MONTHS

Sunday, November 14, 2010

My first acrylic painting in 7 months


This is a demo I did for my picturebook class at UVU. I was happy that I was still able to do it. I have to admit that I was a little nervous but I couldn’t let my students know it.

Also – we’re starting our Hansel and Gretel assignment tomorrow – Monday the 15th. Several people are going to do the project but do not want me to post the results online. That’s absolutlely fine – I’ll only post the images that you want me to post.
Good luck on it – My hope is that you can add another great image to your portfolio!

hansel and gretle? do this at home

Monday, November 8, 2010

Want to do this assignment?


This is an illustration from Hansel and Gretel by scott gustafson. (Scott I hope you don’t mind that I used your image.) We are going to be illustrating one scene from this story next week in my picturebook class at UVU. My students will begin this assignment on November 16 and their due date is Dec 8th. I’ve always wanted to try this so here goes:

I’m planning to post my students work right here on my blog and I’d like to post work from anyone out there who would like to participate along with us. The goal is to motivate my students as well as anyone who wants to roll up their sleeves and get busy with us. I’ll also give a short critique on these pieces and any of you can weigh in with your opinions as well. I think this will be a blast!

So here are the rules:
Original work only of course
size is 8.5″ x 11″ wide or horizontal (work larger if you like)
color or black and white
any medium
email me a jpeg of your finished piece – I’ll only post jpegs

Content:
You may choose any scene from the story. It can be dark and scary if you want – the original Brothers Grimm tale is quite ominous. You may also choose to lighten it up – fracture it if you want – this is your chance to do something really fun! The only content rule is that it must contain at least one character from the story. I often advise my students to pick a scene that is easily identifiable (as a Hansel and Gretel image) so they can get an editor or art director emotionally involved with their work.

So that’s it – you have an extra week to get going on it!

sample: penguin

 

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A new book project


This is a sample image for a book I just finished writing and illustrating. I don’t have a publisher yet but will be sending it out soon. I was so happy with how this image turned out and I had to share it on my blog. The rest of the book is in full dummy mode (PDF) and hopefully I can get someone interested in putting some money behind it. I love telling stories through fun visuals and text – watching kids as they listen and look at my pictures is where it’s at. So far I’ve gotten a good response on this one….fingers crossed!
Oh, also this is the first image that I started and finished in photoshop – prior to this piece I had always scanned my pencil sketches and then finished in photoshop. It has taken about 7 – 8 months to become familiar enough with my wacom tablet to pull this off. It still feels a little foreign but it’s getting much easier.

 

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Re-Painting


I just wasn’t satisfied with the last finish on this piece – It felt over rendered in some ways and I think it lacked texture and the silhouette from the original sketch. I’m still finding myself in photoshop. I like the second version much better because you can still see some of the under-painting – a look I had in my traditional work.