Friday, December 31, 2010

Colored pencil swatches


I went on a swatching bender and (finally) made color swatches of almost all my colored pencils. (Everything but the Polychromos, which I know really really well and didn't feel the need to swatch. And also, I just ran out of gas.)

*This isn't meant to be an 'official review' of any of these brands, by any means. More like just an impression by ONE user. For example, I love love love Polychromos, and I know plenty of people who can't stand them, so take what I say here with a grain of salt. Its all subjective, you know?*

First up, the Luminance. These are light fast, which means they won't fade like a lot of other colored pencils will. (Or at least not as much.) They're also expen$ive.



I was at first really disappointed because many of the set of 76 were scratchy going down. I went so far as to email the company as well as the online store I bought them from to ask for a refund or something.

Then I sat down to do another quick scribbly swatch chart to document which ones were really bad - and this time, they worked better.



I think its possible they were actually a bit frozen? from sitting on a FedEx truck the first time around, since I had opened them up almost immediately upon receiving them and did the first round of swatches right away. This second set was made a few days later after they've been sitting in a nice warm house, so maybe that's made a difference. I'm willing to give them another chance.
(And I emailed both companies back to set things right.)

However. Aside from that (let's say they all 'went down' smooth and I was 100% happy with that aspect), I have a couple of picky complaints:

The name of the color is wrapped around the barrel of the pencil (instead of going down lengthwise, like with most other brands) which means you have to turn the pencil around to read the name. I know that sounds like I'm just being lazy, but its kind of annoying. I understand why they did that - to keep the color name from being sharpened off as the pencil gets sharpened down to the nub. OK.
But more annoying than the wrap-around design is the color of the type - its reflective silver, and almost impossible to read, especially when one has a light on over the drawing table. At least for me.

So you can picture this - I'm cranky because the pencils are going down scratchy, then I can't read the darned name on the end. And I'm thinking about how expensive these are, and how much I was looking forward to them, and how I was expecting them to be pencil nirvana. Well, I don't want to give them a bad review, but I can't in good conscience give them a glowing one either. I would LOVE to hear anyone else's thoughts on these in the comments or you may email me privately.

On a good note, they do come already sharpened, and they feel nice to hold, and the color range is fine. And they're light fast, so there you go.


Next up I did my Lyra Rembrandt Polycolors.




Ahhhh, such smooth luscious feeling pencils. And such pretty colors. I did use these a while back on a piece and ended up using my Polychromos to bump up some color at the end. But now I think that if you give them a good burnish, the colors will pop more. I tend to not like to burnish - I'm not a fan of the 'look' (usually, but there are exceptions - and I'm just talking about for my own work, I'm not criticizing anyone else's burnishing technique), and I really really don't like how it makes my hand and arm feel. But over all, the Lyras go down 'like buttah'.



Then I did my whole set of 132 Prismacolors.




It was about time - I've been using an old set forever, that was actually bits and pieces of lots of sets cobbled together, then recently sprung for the new ones. I've used several of these, but also there were many that hadn't even been sharpened!! (That's one drawback of Prismas - you have to sharpen them all.)

Then after I was done I realized I'd done Terra Cotta twice (which means I had a new and an old one in the tin) and also included a Deco Blue, which I know wasn't in the new set, since they're not doing the Deco colors anymore.

Still, it was good to do, because there are some neat colors I hadn't used. There a lot of good sort of neutral beige-y colors like Rosy Beige, Peach Beige, Ginger Root, Putty Beige and Beige Sienna. I also like Espresso and Chocolate (well, no surprise there). And the tried and true French Greys are essential, as are (for me, anyway) Black Raspberry, Black Grape and Black Cherry.



Then I did the Coloursofts.


I have no complaints about them at all. They go down easy and have a nice color range.

I don't have my current Lightfast booklet from CPSA nearby, so can't comment on that aspect of any these pencils at the moment. I know that's their biggest drawback, that some of them fade.

I'm glad I did these swatches - now I know what I have, and how they feel, and have them there on a chart I can hold up to see without having to fish through the tins for a color. Sometimes you need a really specific color for something, and when you have literally hundreds of pencils, it can be hard to find the right one.

So that's it. Now I have to go make some actual art.

Good news

My reindeer making shortbread won a little award.
Third place in the They Draw and Cook's holiday recipe contest. I'm happy!



Nate and Salli (who are totally cool) put it on the TDAC blog ~



Then it was also featured on the Food Network's blog ~




Thank you Food Network people and Weldon Owen Publishing people for judging my little reindeer making shortbread to be worthy. They and I are both very proud of ourselves!!

Want to know something? This whole 'digital thing' is pretty new to me (which you know if you've been reading my blog a while). I don't really 'do' digital. Until recently. When I started fiddling with my Wacom and Photoshop, I knew I didn't want to try to replicate a super realistic style - and just do it digitally instead of with traditional media. I figured out pretty fast the best way to go for me was to do something completely different. And that's when I started to have fun!

Sometimes I still start out with a pen and ink drawing, then scan it in and fiddle with it and color it with Photoshop. Sometimes I do the whole thing digitally.

I put a little demo of how I put together the reindeer piece here on my site.

This was a nice way to ring out the old year and ring in the new one. I hope this new year is a really good one for everyone, full of good health, good cheer, and good work.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Caldecott buzz

There's starting to be some talk about who will win the Caldecott this year. (The Caldecott is like the Academy Award for Children's Book illustration, in case you didn't know.) Here's a good article about some supposed contenders. I knew most, but not all of these (I'm ashamed to say) so had to go look them up. I thought you might be in the same boat, so thought I'd share these quick images and links (all pulled from Amazon). I've also put a link to the illustrator's website or blog (except John J Muth, for whom I substituted a video, since he doesn't seem to have a site?).

**This is not an Official List - just speculation by people in the know.**

(Also, the pictures don't link (thank you Blogger), so you have to just use the text link - I know its confusing with the "Click to Look Inside!" on the picture - like I said, I pulled them straight off Amazon and didn't bother to crop that bit off.)

Mama Miti, Donna Jo Napoli author, Kadir Nelson illustrator

Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan authors,
Brian Floca illustrator


(if he wins, it will be his FOURTH Caldecott)


A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Philip Christian Stead author,
Erin Stead illustrator


Here Comes the Garbage Barge, Jonah Winter author,
Red Nose Studio illustrator

Snook Alone, by Marilyn Nelson


City Dog, Country Frog, Mo Willems author,
John J Muth illustrator




13 Words, Lemony Snicket author, Maira Kalman illustrator



Hmmm. Well, I have my favorites, but I'm not telling. I actually haven't seen some of these up close and personal, so can't say too much.

I'm kind of surprised that this one hasn't been mentioned ~

The Quiet Book, Debra Underwood author, Renata Liwska illustrator


When this first came out I was so sure it had "big award" written all over it. It still may - we'll find out January 10th when the winners are announced!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Dreaming up new art

I'm excited about a new series I want to do. Its all about The Pantry.

I've always been fascinated by people's pantries, and love to get a glimpse of a good one when possible (no, I didn't say "snoop". A good ploy is to be helping with dinner, and have the excuse to offer to get something from the larder.)

Very few (OK, none) that I have seen are as cozy and charming as this one.

© Jill Barklem from the Brambley Hedge series
(I believe its from Autumn Story)


To stock a basic pantry, one definitely needs some dry pasta.


And spices.


And chocolates and olives and capers and tins of things and anchovies and are those chocolate espresso beans in that middle row jar?


I'm not sure about storing the cooked ham in the pantry, but the plum pudding is OK (for a bit) and of course attractive serving ware always helps to dress things up.

This is too perfect and staged to be real, but I was taken with the white pitchers, since I have a collection myself (which I can assure you are not stored in the pantry).


Oooh, yummy looking things in jars.


And cheese! OK, this is not someone's larder, but its cheese! One could keep cheese in the pantry, I suppose, if its cool enough. In my fantasy there is cheese and plenty of it. You know Wallace and Grommit have plenty of cracking good cheese in theirs.



And fancy unreadable labels done with a calligraphy pen.


So anyways. This is what I've been doing - looking at larders and mulling over what I want to do with this series, exactly. When I get started I will post about it, you can be sure. It might be colored pencil, and it might be watercolor + pencil, not sure. Like I said, its in the incubation/dreaming stage. I love that stage.

Here's to your art dreams *clink*

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Merry Christmas

Two Lords a Leaping - they've lept away from the pack of ten and are doing their own thing.
I can relate.

Here, the presents are wrapped (well, almost), the Christmas feast is shopped (well, almost) and other preparations are under way. At least the house is decorated. I look forward to having a warm and cozy time with loved ones. I doubt there will be much leaping involved (unlike over at the Fezziwig's), but there will be nog and sweets and a fire, to be sure.


I hope that whatever kind of holiday you celebrate is wonderful and fulfilling and satisfying and all good things that holidays are supposed to be.

God bless us, every one!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Cat books for Christmas

Hi - we're Paula's cats. She's busy knitting, and told us to blog something for her. So we're going to show you 2 books we like that have cats in them.

The first one is called A Pussycat's Christmas and it has a lot of really good paintings of a cat by this lady named Anne Mortimer. She's really really really good at painting cats. She's painted a whole bunch of cats and a whole bunch of books. We think if you go look at this one, there will be pictures of all the other ones too. There's another Christmas one with Santa, then another one with Santa and a kitten. Paula has these by the bed and looks at them at night while we're all snuggly and kneading on the blanket. We think the cat in this one looks a lot like Saachi, except the one in the book is a girl.

©©©©©© Anne Mortimer ©©©©©©©


We like this one too. Its called Cats and Carols and has pictures that were painted by some lady called Leslie Anne Ivory. (What's the deal with the name Anne? Do you have to be named Anne to paint cats really good or something?). Anyway. This one is really good too, and has lots of paintings of cats and has a bunch of Christmas stuff in it. This Leslie Anne lady has painted a lot of other cats books too which are also on the book website when you go look at this one.

©©©©©©© Leslie Anne Ivory ©©©©©©©©©


We're hungry now so that's all we're going to do. Its raining a lot and we are sooooo borrrrrred because we can't go outside and Paula is just knitting and we've pestered her a lot but she's just ignoring us. She said to tell you she'll check in later in the week maybe and hopes everyone is having a nice holiday week. Whatever. It has to be dinner time, we need to go poke her or something. So guess we're done here.

Meow meow meow meow and meow.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

#5

Who lives at #5? What is the letter pushed under the door about? Who is the woman walking away? Questions to ponder.

I'm getting warmed up to watercolors again after not using them for quite a while. I do of course still love my colored pencils - but doing this same piece in pencil would have taken twice as long, at least. For my children's book work I want to be able to work faster, so am going back to this medium. Oh, its not fast - just faster than my pencil technique. I actually don't mind spending time lingering over an illustration, not at all. Its just that deadlines require one to move it out of low gear pretty frequently, and with pencils that's kind of not possible. One just has to work longer to get the same result.

I had to get used to, all over again, how watercolors dry differently than how you put them on - they get lighter, and duller (not shiny, like when they're wet). Well I knew that, but after using pencils for so long, where what you put down is what you get, it was an adjustment.



Its like exercising a different part of your 'art brain', using a different medium. And I think that's good.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Salley Mavor's work

{{{ SQUEAL }}}

©©©©©© Salley Mavor ©©©©©©©


I've always loved Salley Mavor's work. And now, there is a wonderful blog post on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast about her and her work, with an interview, and about a bazillion really wonderful photos of her fabric/needlework illustrations. Go see!

(P.S. I didn't ask permission to share this - hopefully no one will be mad at me. I was just so excited to show you!)

That's it. Go enjoy your day.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Little Square Cards



They're done.




There are three 'assortments' - Christmas, Candy, and Food (which are really just fruit).
You get 24 cards and envelopes in a little square box.





There's a picture with all the images included in each assortment in the etsy listings. If you're keen on these and would like a custom assortment made up, I'd be happy to do that for you. Just send me an email or convo me through etsy.

Once I had all the supplies I needed, and got a system down, they went smoothly. It was that first fumbling around with the idea that had me tearing my hair out. I found some cool round white stickers to seal the envelopes with, which you can leave white, or do your own thing on. I did actually set up and print out a whole sheet of them with images that matched the cards ... kind of crazy. It was a good idea, but overkill. The plain white ones are muuuuuch better.

I'm proud of myself for following through with the idea. I think they're really cute, if not very practical from a money-making point of view. I'll spare you the breakdown, but let's just say, if I charged what they're really worth (mostly in time and effort), I'd be adding a zero onto the current price. Seriously. But its gauche to talk about money, so I won't.

So anyways, that's what I've been up to. And now I need a bit of a break.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Christmas picture books

At Christmas time I always pull out all of my holiday picture books and 'read' them (look at the pictures) in bed at night. Really.

Thought I'd share a few with you.

I love Peter Collingon's work. He does wordless picture books.




© Peter Collington

A Small Miracle is really moving - about an old woman who is alone and the nativity scene characters who befriend and help her.




© Peter Collington

On Christmas Eve is about how Santa delivers presents to a girl who doesn't have a chimney for him to come down.

His books are quiet and full of detail and really draw you in. I just love his painting style (gouache maybe?).

I have a couple more that aren't Christmas, but worth mentioning.





© Peter Collington

The Tooth Fairy is about what you'd expect it to be about - but its also very not what you would expect. The whole process the fairy goes through to leave the coin under the pillow, then also what she does with the tooth are really neat.


© Peter Collington

Clever Cat is hilarious - about a cat who gets a job to support himself when his family falls a bit short. I know I've suggested that very thing to mine on more than one occasion, but so far, no takers. ** This one isn't wordless like the others, just fyi.


Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Shortbread

I finished my entry for the They Draw and Cook holiday recipe contest. Shortbread!


(click to see this bigger)

This was a lot of fun to put together. I did a little demo of it on my website, if you're interested.


I still start out working with paper and pencils, but the final art is all digital.
In the last post I was talking about this 'reindeer style' and how I liked doing it - but that version was pen & ink plus watercolor. I've updated it to be all digital, and I love working this way.

I do try to make at least one batch of this every year at Christmas time - usually a few batches, actually. Its sooo good. It goes well with coffee or tea or milk, and isn't too sweet. I like that its so deceptively plain, but that you can also jazz it up by dipping it in chocolate or sprinkling sugar on top. Go make some!



Let's see, what else ... tomorrow looks like its going to be 'getting the tree' day. That's always fun (kind of NOT). Oh, I know, I sound grumpy. I just wish I had a magic wand to have it all done is all - the "schlepping of the tree and making a mess of needles in the car and house, sticking it in the stand, trying to get it straight, and then discovering all of last year's lights don't work" part of the process kind of makes me nuts. After its all decorated and I can sit with a plate of shortbread and enjoy it, then I'm OK.

Also, I finally received the wee little envelopes to go with my wee little cards I was making, so now I have to squeeze in time to get those all put together.
Fa la la la laaaaaaAAAAA. Tis the season!!
Deep ... breaths ...