I love illustrating for kids because it allows me to be super creative and have tons of fun while I’m doing it. Whether I’m developing a new character for a logo or illustrating a children’s book I’m all about trying new things. Developing a new style takes time. It also takes a bit of trial and error but it doesn’t have to be drudgery.
I’ve been doing children’s art for over 20 years now. It took some trial and error to find my style. It’s something that is constantly evolving. A big part of that comes from not being afraid to try new things. Some work well, some take time to perfect and others just fall into to the “what was I thinking” category. I’m sure every artist has a few pieces that make them cringe but the point is we learn as much if not more from our mistakes then we do from our successes. Continue reading →
Posted in: Children's Books, Uncategorized, artwork, self promo.
I just wrapped up my latest video shoot with my good friends down at Burning Oak Studios in Raleigh. I’m happy to let you know that I’ll have a bunch of free new art lessons coming out soon. We did some really fun ones this time around including how to draw a human fly (in marker), an angry bear (in colored pencil), a puppy (in water color), a kitten, a hamster and many, many more.
Can’t wait to get them up on the site. I hope you guys will enjoy them and send me pics of your drawings when they come out. I’ll update you here, on Twitter and over on the How 2 Draw site when they are released.
Posted in: free stuff, self promo.
Tagged: Videos
Just wanted to give you guys a little update on my adventures in mural painting. The Fathead stickers and the custom designed surfboard are in and both are big hits. The kids have been enjoying the stickers and have had a great time moving them around. Here are a couple of pics of the actual stickers and where they decided to put them….for now. Continue reading →
Posted in: artwork.
I’m trying something new with my How 2 Draw site. I’ve selected 3 of my free how to draw lesson plans and have given them a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. That basically means they can be shared, distributed, copied and used however folks like as long as they don’t try to sell them, alter the content or claim the work as their own.
Continue reading →
Posted in: free stuff.
Good supplies are worth their weight in gold.
A couple of weeks ago my good friend Paul asked me to paint a mural for him. He wanted something with a beach theme to go along with a giant wall mounted photo he had taken. Paul had recently sold his beach house and wanted something to remind him of the old place. The 6 foot beach photo would be the center piece of the design. Continue reading →
Posted in: artwork.
This is part 5 of Creating Characters for a Children’s Book. My homework for today was to begin putting together thumbnails for my interiors.
My thumbnails are coming along nicely. Since this book is 24 pages it will take a little bit of time for me to get through them all. In the meantime I’ve taken another look at the logo and adding the donut. My first attempt looked good but I ran it by Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) and he thought that maybe it should be a little more animated. At first I thought he was crazy but now that I look at it I think he was right. It’s important to keep an open mind when working on a big project.
Even though this is my own project and Bob the Art Director is not a real guy these kind of comments are not uncommon. There are a lot of little tweaks and changes that go on throughout the course of illustrating a book or a series. Sometimes even when you think you’ve nailed it there are still ways to improve. Again, keep and open mind and never , never take it personally.
Attempts #1 and #2
Homework for next time: Continue working on thumbnails. Start thinking about cover ideas.
Posted in: Children's Books, Featured, Monsters, artwork.
Tagged: art · Artist · artwork · Bob · bob ostrom · bob ostrom studio · book · cartoon · children't books · childrens book · commissioned artwork · illustration · illustrator · kids books · monster · sketch · sketches
This is part four in the series Creating Characters for a Children’s Book. In case you missed the other three here’s a quick review. Characters are all approved. Color is complete on two and the third one is underway. Based on the story line I thought it would be cool to add a donut to the logo.
My Homework was to add the donut to the logo. I tried a few variations and I’m not really liking it. It seems to be drawing attention away from the monster a bit which is not cool. I really want the focus to be on Greg and the type, not the donut. I showed my roughs to Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) and he agreed.
There are a couple of solutions that I think might work. The first one is to take the donut out of the logo and put it into the title of the book. The second, and the solution I like better, is to change the pose of the monster. The front of the book gets Greg in his normal pose and the title page get Greg with a new pose for this book the donut). The reason I like this idea better is because it will allow me to customize the logo for each book. This will make the logo and Greg the monster more fun and interactive. It will also allow me to have more fun and that’s the best part of all. I’ll run the idea past Bob the Art Director and see what he thinks.
Since I’m almost through with the character creation part of this book I think for the next post we’ll switch over to the actual illustration for the book. Homework for next time. Begin thumbnails for the interiors and cover.
Posted in: Children's Books, Monsters, artwork.
Tagged: art · Artist · Bob · bob ostrom · bob ostrom studio · cartoon · childrens book · illustration · illustrator · kids books · monster · sketch · sketches
Chicken in color.
This is part three of Creating Characters for a Children’s Book. If you’ve missed parts one and two here’s a quick recap. I’ve been working on the characters for a new children’s book. One of the characters is done, another is in the color stage and one still needs a little bit of work.
Last night I finished up color on the chicken and completed the new model sheet sketches for Carl (the boy). As I was working on the story my alter ego Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) reminded me that Greg (the monster) loves donuts. It’s a pretty big part of the story. Taking another look at the logo I thought it might be a cool idea to get a donut in there somewhere.
So today’s post is going to be short and sweet. Homework for next time: Work a donut into the Greg the Monster logo.
Posted in: Children's Books, Featured, Monsters, artwork.
Tagged: art · Art Store · Artist · artwork · Bob · bob ostrom · bob ostrom studio · book · cartoon · children't books · childrens book · illustration · illustrator · kids books · monster · sketch · sketches
This is the logo Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) asked for.
Good news readers… my sketches were approved!
If you follow along with my blog you’ll remember in yesterday’s post I showed you the beginning stages of how I create the characters in the children’s books I work on. This is part two of Creating Characters
( In today’s episode I will be playing the parts of both myself and Bob the Art Director).
So I submitted my sketches to Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) and he was kind enough to get back to me right away with comments. Turns out everything looked good and is approved to go to color with the exception of the boy. I noticed the boy (Carl) strayed off model a little bit so I’ll need to rework that one. I was pretty happy with the other characters so I will proceed to color on those.
You’ll notice in Bob the Art Director’s notes (see sketches below for comments) he needed a logo right away. This kind of thing is fairly common. At the beginning and end stages of a picture book there can occasionally be a bit of scrambling around as publishers gather things to help promote the books. In this case it was a logo of the main character done extra quick.
The next step will be to update the model sheet for the Carl and submit the color versions of the other two characters. Once those are done I’ll begin working on a cover and interior sketches. See you then…
Posted in: Children's Books, Monsters, artwork.
Tagged: art · Artist · artwork · Bob · bob ostrom · bob ostrom studio · book · cartoon · children't books · childrens book · commissioned artwork · illustration · illustrator · kids books · monster · sketch · sketches
