Some impressive digital illustration inspiration by 15 amazing artists over at WebUrbanist, check ‘em out here : Dazzling Digital Illustration

I really enjoyed this blogpost by mommy-illustrator, Crystal Driedger… she puts into words just how I feel balancing being a mother and illustrator. She shares some great tips for multi-tasking and time management. Love her last point, it’s true to my heart, too :

“My son is the most important thing and always will be. This means that I will never again take on more work than I can handle… I will not answer a client’s phone call or email if my son is crying… I will lower my expectations on the type of work I can get done… have rearranged my priorities… And, when I see that it’s 10pm and I’m still writing on my silly blog, knowing that my son will most likely wake up a couple of times tonight crying then be up for the day at 5:30am tomorrow I call it a day.” – Crystal Driedger

Crystal’s blog post got me thinking of what I’ve done differently since becoming a full-time mum and part-time illustrator…
• Let clients know my priority is being a mum : Being honest with clients up front that I’m a full-time mum helps then know what they can expect from me. I let them know how much time a week I’m available, and communicate right away if I’m unable to work on their project that week. I’ve had some amazingly understanding clients when occasionally deadlines have had to be pushed.
• Quote generously for projects : I’ve found it takes me twice as long to do anything as I expect, so I quote twice as much time as I did before I was a mum. Not because I’m slower at painting, I just need to accommodate those unexpected interruptions, lost nap times, colds, bumped heads, and even days where I just need a nap.

• Taken my time to enjoy each project : Where before I would churn out illustration after illustration, I’m savoring each project. Because of this, the quality of my work is improving drastically, and I’m more and more happy with the books I’ve been illustrating.
• Post date blog writeups : I really enjoy blogging, but don’t have the time to keep up with it like I used to… so if I am inspired to blog, I post date my entries (like this one!) and space them a few days apart, so that I have several weeks of posts written in advance. That way I can enjoy blogging, but not feel driven to keep up with it every couple days.

• Make the most of nap time : I use my daughter’s naptime for projects / chores that are too tricky to do while she’s awake.

• Share the computer : For those times I have to email my clients, or do some paperwork, my daughter is fascinated by the computer so I put a cartoon on the screen so she can sit on my lap and watch something in the corner of the screen while I reply to emails.

• Work together : Now that my daughter is a toddler and curious about whatever I’m doing, I can involve her by setting up her own paints and crayons while I do small doodles… I spend more time telling her to not paint on mommy’s painting than I spend being productive, but I like involving her in what I’m doing. And at times I have to give up what I’m working on and just sit and draw “baa”’s and “bears” with Hera because it’s just fun.

Will leave this here…  and once again I’m so glad I wrote this article two weeks in advance so I can enjoy taking the day off tomorrow to decorate and bake a cake for my daughter’s second birthday.

I’m putting up for auction on eBay my drafting chair, as well as several illustration books. They are beautiful books, I’m just realizing I’m not using them since pulling back to part-time, and I’d rather see them in the hands of other artists who could use them! Here’s what I’ve got up there in case you’re looking for a bargain! :
• Black drafting chair. It raises and lowers like it should, has a step for resting your feet, wheels glide nicely, spins well! The fabric is in good condition. I’m just downsizing to one art table so don’t need the extra chair. Local pickup in Adelaide only.

• International Designer’s Network IDN magazine “Crime & Ornament.” +DVD It’s a beautiful magazine celebrating modern patterns (can see examples in the photo). RRP AU$15. There is an interactive DVD that comes with this magazine.

• “Artist’s Manual | A Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Materials and Techniques”. Condition is excellent, with no marks in or out, pages are pristine. I LOVE this book, I just haven’t been using it and could use the extra space. It’s full of gorgeous illustration examples, beautiful photographs of artist materials, example after example of artist techniques. A must have for any artist!

• “The Designer’s Guide to Color Combinations” by Leslie Cabarga. Condition is excellent, with no marks in or out, pages are pristine. This is an excellent resource… 500+ Historic and Modern Color Formulas in CMYK. A real gem of a tool for designers, and inspirational for illustrators!

• Communication Arts Illustration Annual 47. I would say this one is as good as new, with only mild wear on the spine, no bent pages or marks inside. RRP $16. The annual full of beautiful illustrations, I found it to be a wonderful resource seeing what other illustrators are doing with their techniques and styles.

• A retro Grumbacher Colour Compass. It comes with the original paper sleeve. There is a little paint splashed on the compass, but doesn’t take away from the retro feel. Printed in 1977. This is a fun collectable for illustrators, and still very useful to new artists keen on an old-school colour wheel.

• “Norman Rockwell | A Classic Treasury”. This is full of full page illustration after illustration of Norman Rockwell’s classic The Saturday Evening Post paintings… very inspirational for illustrators learning to paint portraits. The jacket is a little worn, but the interior is in very good condition.

I just finished this illustration for my diary of Hera’s stuff, and thought I’d share the simple technique I use for colouring pen illustrations in Photoshop. Clicking on the images below will bring up a close-up image.

Step 1 | Open the scan of your drawing in Photoshop, and create two new layers below it. One will be your background colour (I’ve used white here), and the other will be for painting in the colours of your drawing.

Step 2 | Adjust the brightness and contrast until the paper is as white as possible.

Step 3 | Select the background of the sketch with the magic wand tool, and delete it. Make sure all little bits of paper speckle are removed so the colour comes out nice and clean.

Step 4 | Set the drawing layer to Multiply. This will allow the colours below to show through your drawing, and make the pen work come out nice and dark as it multiplies over the colours below.

Step 5 | Use the magic wand tool to select the background of the sketch. Then invert the selection so that you have only the drawing selected. Feather the edges of the selection (Menu Bar > Select > Feather.) Click on the blank layer below the sketch (multiply) layer and fill the entire sketch with a predominant colour.

Step 6 | From here in, apply colour to this colouring layer whichever way you feel comfortable. Applying colour on its own layer(s) makes it easy to adjust the colours later while keeping your drawing in its original condition.I use a combination of the paintbrush and the magic wand / lassoo tools to select areas from the sketch and fill with colour. You can experiment and go as elaborate as you want with colour, shade and textures.

Here’s another illustration of a cute dress that sadly Hera’s grown too tall to wear, now part of my diary of Hera’s stuff. Ink with digital colour.

I stumbled across this interesting discussion on Amazon.com, where someone asks “Is there a chance that the physical books will become useless use because of Kindle edition digital books?”

I’ve wondered the same thing, whether children’s picture books will become obsolete in the new wave of digital book readers. I’m all for novels, newspapers, and magazine content being digitized, and think it is an excellent way to reduce paper waste. (I also think it would be awesome reading in bed at night, too, as the book acts as its own night light :) I do love paper books, but think that paper novels will soon become collectors items (or print-on-demand) for those that love that smell & feel of old paper, as the digital copies are just so practical and sustainable.

But for children’s books I think digitizing them to read on a screen is a horrible idea!

Being a children’s book illustrator I’m just a little biased… I love picture books, and think there’s something wonderfully tactile about turning the pages with anticipation of what’s on the next page. I tend to cringe at books with added bells & whistles like electronic noise and lights, as I feel there is so much creativity to be enjoyed in the 2D illustrations, subtle textures, and die cuts. Not to mention where will the line be drawn in the future between static digitzed illustrations and animated books? It would be SO tempting for publishers to animate parts of children’s books, and essentially turn digital books into tv.

Being a mum, I value reading and want to pass that onto my daughter. Paper books are also wonderful for helping a child develop their coordination… I’ve enjoyed watching my toddler grow from learning to turn the chunky pages of a board book to now carefully turning pages of regular picture books. The enjoyment I see her have in finding the ladybugs I’ve hidden in the illustrations, to even reciting bits of the stories we’ve read together is hard to imagine on a small digital screen. Heh, I can clearly imagine the blank stare she would have staring at a digital book… it’s the same stare she gets when the tv is on! Nowadays I think we parents rely a lot on electronics to entertain our kids, and I would love books for children to remain tactile.

I received this question from an aspiring children’s book illustrator…

Question : I was wondering if you could post some information about finding a mentor. It would be great to have someone to contact when a question comes to mind or when you need support and motivation.

Answer :  I don’t really know of any one place to get in contact with artists who mentor, but I think you’ve already done the best thing I could suggest…  email other artists and ask them questions about their experiences! Since college I’ve continued to “meet” other artists online by commenting on their blogs and keeping in touch with those who I’ve hit it off with. Of course not everyone has the time to reply, but it doesn’t hurt to drop an email to artists you admire and see who writes back! If you’re interested in just simple critique of your work, you can always post your images up on forums (such as the How Design Forum.)

Would have loved to enter this as I’m a big fan of LOST, but am not living in the US… so, for all you American illustrators, there is a LOST T-shirt Design Contest over at CafePress where you could win a trip to Hawaii and other goodies! Contest ends Feb 18.

Sigh, Gush, Smile :) My brother, Jason MacKay, has done some beautiful new digital paintings recently. I just love the colours in this one, it just glows. Check out his website, lots of great new artwork up there!

We often go camping on the Murray River in Berri, SA at Bookie Cliffs… the water’s as brown and murky as can be, but being the only fresh water to swim in around here, not to mention the beautiful red and yellow cliff face, it’s a welcome change of scenery. Last weekend when we made the trip again, I brought along my watercolours and managed to squeeze in an hour long study of the cliffs. I don’t get many chances to study landscapes on site, was fun making the most of Hera’s naptime! After that, Hera was very keen to “paint” with mommy on the beach, and that I paint “e mama bear e baby bear” holding “hands.” I even had a bit of fun sketching her while she enthusiastically flipped through my Australian bird guide…. until she noticed that what I was doing was more interesting than what she was doing and insisted that I draw her “hand,” which I was all to happy to oblige.