Illustration Portfolio
“Giant!!!” cried the Queen This year’s Illustration Challenge was “Fairytale Mash-Up”. I chose to turn the tables on Jack and the Beanstalk by having the Wizard of Oz’s Queen of the Field Mice capture him and his golden harp Gulliver’s Travel-style near the poppy fields not far from Jack’s cottage.
After getting an approved sketch for Lost, I began sketching concepts for two new word prompts, “Time” and “Flight”. I haven’t gotten the go ahead on any of these yet… still working on it. EB wants the image to stand on its own, be instantly readable as “Time” or “Flight”… not needing any explanation of […]
In July, I was awarded a mentorship through NESCBWI with illustrator EB Lewis. His first assignment for me was to illustrate the word “Lost”. In addition to capturing the word, EB wanted to see narrative, emotion, and anticipation. Developing the concept was the most difficult part of the project. I drew dozens of sketches until […]
A LOT of sketches came before I arrived at the girl with the tiger idea that EB told me to develop further. Having the narrative capture the essence of the word “lost”, avoiding cliches, conveying a sense of emotion and creating anticipation were all a part of the challenge. While I liked some of the […]
February means signing up for the annual NESCBWI spring conference. It’s a little like signing up for concert tickets! This year, there is a 4 hour Intensive workshop with Giuseppe Castellano, Executive Art Director with Penguin Random House. An assignment was given to illustrate a character from Beatrix Potter’s stories. 2016 marked the 150th birthday […]
At a workshop with the illustrator E.B. Lewis, I was encouraged to try painting in watercolor again. I composited a variety of references, including a watercolor by Winslow Homer and a makeshift “cairn” along my driveway to build this piece. In the scene, a storm approaches while a father and son hike in the White Mountains above […]