Here’s a little doodle I did in my sketchbook of Hank’s preemie clothes (close to actual size.) I just loved how little they were so wanted to capture that! I’m not planning on doing a series as I’ve done with my diary of Hera’s stuff, but couldn’t resist doing this one at least :) This one is just ink on paper, and I’ve scanned it and applied colour on my iPad with Sketchbook Pro using a Dagi stylus.

About a week before my son Hank decided to arrive early, I had some time on my hands to doodle some of Hera’s toddler outfits she outgrew this year… had a little time today so thought I’d share the latest for my illustrated diary of Hera’s outfits. They are all pen doodles with watercolour washes done in my sketchbook… haven’t done much watercolour on plain bond paper before, and found it made for very warped paper afterwards! Wouldn’t recommend it for a lot of layering of colours, but for a quick study it’s fun.

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween :) We’ll be going to the hospital to visit my son Hank, who is doing very well by the way, is two weeks old now, and over his birth weight weighing 850grams. Then doing a little trick-or-treating with Hera later in the day. She keeps saying “Thank you for Halloween!” and carrying her little jack-o-lantern around the house. We’ll be doing a little colouring as well, have a fabulous Halloween colouring page from Crystal Driedger… check it out here!

The above Halloween illustration is available royalty-free on ImageZoo.com.

Here’s another study of an outfit for my diary of Hera’s stuff, a little blue & white swimsuit done in pencil crayon on black paper. Fun working chiaroscuro (on a dark surface, illustrating from dark to light.)

I’ve worked on this pantone paper before (in acrylic here & here), and enjoyed working on it again this time with pencil for a study of a little yellow & pink sundress for my illustrated diary of Hera’s outfits. I’ve left the trip across the top, I like remembering how old that paper is and glad to have rescued it from the trash while my college was renovating and clearing out unwanted junk.

Just a quick note to say Heather will be out of touch for a while. She’s in hospital getting bed rest as our baby thought it would be fun to give us a scare at 25 weeks into the pregnancy.

There are some back-dated posts that might still be appearing. Also, Heather won’t be responding to questions and queries during this time.

Thanks,

Ben

Was getting a bit bored of working with pen & digital colour, so dug through my scrap art paper and found some different shades to work on for a few more outfits for my illustrated diary of Hera’s outfits. Here’s a pencil study of a poncho she wore all last winter.

I’ve just finished up my Apples & Birdies sketchbook (by Ecojot,) it lasted me almost the year, am sad to put its worn pages away. From Adelaide to Ottawa to Toronto to Chicago to LAX, this sketchbook has been with me half way around the globe. My sketchbooks usually become a bit of a hodge podge as love saving ticket stubs, cut outs from magazines, old to-do lists, stamps… and what better place to stash them all than in my little sketchbook. And Hera’s got her hands on it more than once, defacing various sketches which has been a challenge! Here are a few spreads I scanned (you can click on them to see larger images), heh, looks a little crazy… better on paper than in my head I say!

Here’s a little pen & watercolour drawing I doodled out recently for my Diary of Hera’s Stuff. Was a bit of a feat finishing this illustration as Hera kept stealing the socks!

My second go using Sketchbook Pro (my first go being to digitally colour this scanned pen illustration) was fun, just did a study of my feet while watching the tv (yes, they are bare in the winter, yes I am pregnant!) This is the first time I’ve done something painterly with digital medium and was pleased with how it turned out… but was a bit more awkward this time around using my finger to draw with, especially for finer details, so am looking forward to picking up a stylus.