Illustration Friday: Legendary (UPDATED)

This illustration is getting long-in-the-tooth, but it fits this week's Illustration Friday topic "Legendary."

When I say Legendary, I'm referring to those Abominable Snowman snowshoes the boy is wearing. I wanted a pair of those as a kid but now I'm not sure if they even existed! Were they only a figment of my imagination?!!

I've searched online for some evidence of these Bigfoot-shaped plastic snowshoes but came up with zip. Does anyone else remember these?

I suspect they were manufactured by K-Tel (yes, K-Tel), the same folks who made the Snow Block maker (and all those groovy music compilations). I'm afraid this will keep me all up night... 

UPDATE: Thanks to Roberta Baird for bringing Redfeather Snowpaw Snowshoes to my attention. These are not the Bigfoot snowshoes of my youth but a modern equivalent. Sadly, no adult sizes–dang!

Dino Detail

I've been working diligently on a series of dinosaur books since November. I'm eager to show off my latest work but feel compelled to keep the illustrations under wraps until the books are published. But I can't resist an occasional tease; here's a small portion of a larger illustration featuring the tail of a well-known dinosaur. Care to guess which dino-type?

Those of you that have seen the final art are not allowed to "guess". 

Illustration Friday: Breezy

This breezy painting was done with acrylic on gessoed paper. This was the first time I used gesso as a foundation. Why gesso? 

• If I make a mistake, I can cover the offending area with gesso, confident that I'm reverting to the same base color and surface.

• Gesso can add texture. I purposely left brush stokes on the gessoed surface (rather than sanding it smooth).
  

Unfortunately, my experiment had mixed results. The texture adds visual interest but it's distracting (especially when scanned). Next time I'll sand the gesso smooth or vary the direction of the strokes.

Portfolio Solutions

My agent, Portfolio Solutions, recently updated my online portfolio. I love seeing my recent work gathered together and on display. But there's a downside: I'm reminded how out-of-date my website has become. The thing is long overdue for a redesign.

You know what they say: "the shoemaker's children wear no shoes."

There's a total of 51 Squier samples on the Portfolio Solutions website in four sample categories: color, black line, historical and fairytale/fantasy.

Illustration Friday: Flawed

There is a serious flaw in this sketch. Can you see it? I didn't notice my faux pas until a friend pointed it out to me; I felt like a dope when I saw what I had done. 

Don't see it? The flaw is revealed below... 

The boy has six fingers! 

When I was a kid I would often draw hands with too many (or too few) fingers, or I'd put the thumb on the wrong side. I thought I had outgrown this type of mistake – apparently, I was wrong. 

This sketch became the cover of an educational book about Independence Day. Thank goodness the extra digit was caught early – that's not the sort of mistake you want to discover after a book has been published!

Final (5-fingered) art below. Thanks to Teri Weidner for her ability to count fingers correctly!

Illustration Friday: Climbing

This climbing chameleon graced my holiday card a few years back. Below you'll see some of the preliminary work that led to the final illustration. From top to bottom: an early color sketch, the final pencil drawing and some practice tree branches.

FYI: The final illustration is a mix of watercolor and colored pencil and maybe a little India Ink(?).

Dino Project Sketches

I've been neglecting this blog recently because I am working tirelessly on a series of dinosaur books! The project is a lot of fun and I'm eager to show my new work.  Unfortunately (for me) I feel it's best to keep this project under wraps until the books are published. But, I'll share a few details...