©Oxford University Press

Here’s a snippet from a piece of art I’m working on. Gotta love drawing colorful bugs!

I did the recipe art for January’s Highlight’s High Five magazine.
I feel certain that you will never think of Mac and Cheese Muffins the same way, ever again.

AND, then… for February, here’s Banana Dippers!
I say dip it. Dip it good.

©Gartner Greetings

I illustrated and planned the subject matter for this religious greeting card collection called ‘Sharing the Faith’ from Gartner Greetings (an imprint of Gartner Studios ). It’s a beautiful collection that has a soft natural look, lots of textures and patterns and art that ties in nicely with its up-lifting verses. It’s a 40 card collection that I shared with another fabulous illustrator and was a joy to work on.

Instead of New Years Resolutions, I always evaluate where my art and business is heading. I like where my business is heading (check) Licensing is a bit of a “slow boat to China” way to riches but I so enjoy the art I am creating so  I know this is a good direction for me. I do still freelance my illustration for editorial and book publishing but I have decided to take this art to a bit of a different place (different for me anyway!) I an loosening up my line work, even digging out my ink nibs and incorporating elements of collage in my work. I ham having  so much fun but like anything it is hard to make time for new portfolio pieces. Here is a new one from me!

This past summer I illustrated the story The Boy Who Wanted Wings for the magazine Angels on Earth. Angels on Earth is owned by Guideposts, which creates spiritual magazines. This is an inspirational Christmas story written by Patricia Gaddis-Clark, and is well worth the read. It was a joy to illustrate too! I know it was intended for print, but I am glad to see it on-line as well. Enjoy!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Today I woke up to a ton of snow on the ground. What a surprise it was! Unfortunately, it turned over to rain and now it is a slushy mess. But, the snow has helped to put me in the holiday mood. Well, the snow and the Christmas tree we just put up! There are no gifts under it right now and I’m not sure if we’ll ever has as many gifts as those under the tree I illustrated. Ha! But that’s okay.

In this post I thought I would show you a bit how I work from sketch to finished art.1. Here’s my sketch

2. Next I lay down the foundation colors and start to fill in different elements of the art.

3. Once the initial art colors and characters are painted, I like to bring the art into Photoshop where I add lots of the details, textures and patterns. I have a large library of textures and patterns that I have created on paper using paints and scratchboard and pen and ink, etc. I have also been known to scan fabrics, newspapers, buttons, really what ever I think I can use in my art. It’s a lot of fun creating those different textures and patterns and once I scan it into the computer I can use it multiple times because it’s now a computer file.

4. And here is the final art with all the details, textures and patterns added in in place. But wait, there’s one more addition to this piece!

5. I decided to add a border all around it. This was a border I created by hand and scanned/manipulated in the computer. Hope you had fun seeing a bit of my working process!

Posted by: Lesley

Jules Danielson has invited Steve to contribute monthly “Fieldnotes” to her amazing children’s book blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. He’ll be posting a regular interview/feature with a children’s publishing professional — starting December 15th with art director and book designer Susan M. Sherman.

There’s a fun profile of him — with plenty of pictures and a poem — up today. Check it out!

I’m revisiting some soft tree ornaments I made years ago when I was a full tine doll artist. They’re hand painted, then sewn and embroidiered–even machine quilted a little. Take a peek and leave a comment. You might win a signed book or a giclee print from Tex and Sugar!

http://johansennewman.typepad.com/designrocket/2009/11/holiday-blog-hop-crafting-and-holiday-giveaway-.html

Steve and I recently received our first advance copy of Illustrating Children’s Picture Books from Roto Vision in the UK. It was great to finally see it in print and to hold it in our hands. It’s a nice square shape and size and is well designed. It will be available in December but you can place pre-orders on Amazon.com already. Here a few sneek peaks!