Aw, this really made my day… our book “Spotty & Eddie Learn to Compromise” just had a lovely review over at the Just One More Book podcast! I didn’t even realize my colleague, author Lisa M. Chalifoux, had sent a copy of our book to Mark & Andrea! Funny thing is, I’m still waiting to flip through a hard copy of the book myself… my copies arrive from Canada with my folks when they visit me in Australia for the birth of my first baby in 3 weeks. Anyway, enough rambling, you can click here to read the comments & listen to the podcast at Just One More Book!

This… is… awesome! Today on Treehugger I stumbled across Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland advertisements for the World Wildlife Fund’s “Give a hand to wildlife” campaign. How awesome are Guido Daniele’s uber-realistic body paintings… at first glance I thought they were painted rocks, like the fad in the early 90’s (or maybe I was the only one painting on rocks as a kid?) Love the use of alternative surfaces for illustration. Doubly love how apt they are for this campaign.

Ok, just one more peak, but that’s the last one as I need to knuckle down and finish the last five illustrations this week! The main things I’ve been working on are the greenery, sidewalks, tents, and backgrounds… putting off the hard parts for last, typical me :)

I tried a new trick too… I’ve seen quite a few digital illustrations which which use silhouettes of people, rather than illustrating every detail of the person, clothing, etc. So I thought I’d give it a go, and added in some silhouettes of people in the far background to add more depth & a sense that there are a lot of people in the illustration. Am pleased with the effect, as it was a simple way of adding some interest behind the action in the foreground, without taking the time it would had I gone in with my 0-Paintbrush and tried to illustrate those tiny faces & bodies! I think I’ll use this silhouette technique more often.
To see other posts about “The Little Boy’s Smile,” check out :

• The Little Boy’s Smile | Another Sneak Peak
• The Little Boy’s Smile | Step-by-step painting
• The Little Boy’s Smile | Sketches

“Fantasy, if it’s really convincing can’t become dated for the simple reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time.” – Walt Disney

My sketches have just been approved for “Tartan Meets the Queen,” by Charline Crous & Lauren Everton… can’t wait to start the finals! Here is a sneak peak at a few of the spreads from the story. I plan to illustrate these with regular old graphite pencil on paper first… then I’ll scan, and colour the illustrations digitally with Photoshop (check out my easy tutorial here.)

To see other posts on Tartan Meets the Queen, check out :

• • Tartan Meets the Queen | Concept Boards

This animated short film I came across on CRAFT is really beautifully done… love how Yves Geleyn animated this gentle character with only stitching & stop animation. Click to watch Kotori here.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams, Creator of Dilbert

The illustrations for Tom Kraus’s “The Little Boy’s Smile” are ticking along well, so thought I’d share a sneak snapshot of the collection of illustrations for the book… only the top left 4 are completed, and the remaining six are well underway!  I’ve been working on completing these acrylic illustrations one at a time, up until yesterday when I was feeling “yellow” so painted all the soft yelow skies at once… and this morning when I was feeling “blue” and painted all the blue skies! I think this afternoon is starting to feel a little “green.” This book is a lot of fun to illustrate, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself painting, eating popsicles, listening to Just One More Book, and taking an afternoon nap! I’ll post again once I’ve scanned some of the finished illustrations…
To see other posts related to this story, check out :

• The Little Boy’s Smile | Step-by-step painting
• The Little Boy’s Smile | Sketches

I’ve found this AOI Report of Illustrator Fees & Standard Pricing 2007 to be a gem of a resource… already have put it to use as a rough starting point when providing quotes for products I’ve never had to illustrate before. It has everything from children’s book rates to advertising pricing. An illustrator’s dream! Well worth reading in full – be sure to read it with an English accent, it’s more fun that way. According to the AOI, the most important considerations when calculating your fee are :

• The Use

• Area of Use or Territory

• Duration

• Client’s Profile

• Reputation of Illustrator

• Expenses

• Client’s Budget

“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” – Roald Dahl