My first editorial illustration

I've had a growing curiosity about editorial illustration, and I was excited when Lilla Rogers assigned a magazine ad for this month's MATS Bootcamp class. We were asked to create a full-page, magazine illustration to coincide with this article on meditation by Grace Suh, titled "How to Meditate: A Primer for People Who Don't Like to Meditate."

I wanted to convey a person who was unable to immerse themselves in meditation, amongst others who seemed to do it so easily. This was my final submission:

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Last-minute underwater mural for a Brooklyn school and mural design for a team

NY Cares contacted me a couple of days ago, asking if I could quickly sketch a mural for a local school in Brooklyn. Because I live in Croton now, it would have been almost impossible for me to sketch an 18 foot mural on-site in the allotted time. So we agreed that I would design the mural, and leave it to someone else to project and sketch it out on the canvas. As always with NY Cares, a group of volunteers will paint the sketched mural.

Here are my sketches and final design (if I get any pictures, I will post the finished painted piece):





























When I first started designing murals for NY Cares in 2004, I had no idea how to create something that could be painted successfully by a third party. My designs were too complicated, using complex shading or foreshortened images that weren't understandable to a group of volunteers. Or, my sketches were too vague and gestural, and the volunteers were unable to decipher my drawings well enough to paint them accurately.

As I have learned to keep my mural layouts simple and clear, I find that the experience for the volunteers is a heck of a lot less overwhelming, and they seem to walk away feeling excited and proud of the final work.

One of my more successful experiences was with a team of volunteers from Crossfit718. Because of the legibility of my drawing and the simplicity of the colors and shapes, these women were able to paint with enthusiasm. They got it. Their attitudes were positive, and they did an outstanding job.

Here are a couple of shots of that completed mural, and one of me adding some finishing touches.























Your questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Thanks for stopping by!

A Mother's Day note card for you.

I created this little card a couple of days ago for my mom and my husband's mom. To my great joy, it printed out on watercolor paper beautifully, and I was able to send them out on time.























If you'd like to download a copy of this little note card, I've created a printable page with crop marks and fold lines. You can either download this PNG below, or you can email me at kendrasred(at)gmail(dot)com, and I will send you a hi-res PDF.

























Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!


Back to watercolor

Today, I challenged myself to make art using an uncomfortable medium. All types of traditional painting has proven a challenge for me the past few years, so I broke out the watercolors and watercolor pens to see if I could loosen up a bit. Below is a doll I painted, based on an upcoming assignment for my class with Lilla Rogers, plus a couple bird paintings. I ended up really enjoying myself, and I think I'll watercolor tomorrow as well.






































More work with texture

My pen has felt a little resistant lately, so this week, I decided to give it a rest and focus on another love of mine -- textures. Since I gravitate toward bird-creating, especially when I'm feeling a bit stuck, I started a "Rusty Bird" collection. I am unsure if I'll add to the backgrounds, or keep these as solitary birds on a blank page, but here is a preview of what I've been working on....

























Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

In like a lion

While working on my happy lions for the circus pattern project a few weeks ago, I made a rough sketch of a voluminous lion face. I tossed it aside at the time, but I keep running into it, and I decided to try another one today. I'll post more once the linework is completed and I've added color, but I look forward to seeing where I can go with this. Stay tuned!





















Lilla Rogers and Jell-O patterns

I submitted my second assignment for Lilla's MATS Bootcamp earlier today. The focus this month was on patterns, bolt fabric and Jell-O — Jell-O molds, colors, retro ads, anything Jell-O. I found myself uninterested in the molds, but I really loved looking at the desserts. The colorful stacks of Jell-O layered with whipped cream and a cherry on top, served in a tall glass with a pronounced stem. Just cool.

As with every Lilla assignment so far, it was another fantastic experience of learning, questioning, researching and drawing. Not only did I spend time checking out old Jell-O ads (totally enjoyable), but I also paid more attention to the patterns around my house, I drew gazillions of fun desserts, and I tried some new color combinations. Another perk this month was finding www.colorexplorer.com. Using the "Image Color Import" function, I was able to upload images that I was drawn to (my Ikea bedspread, a shirt at the Nintendo store, a mudroom on Houzz.com, etc.), and Color Explorer provided Illustrator-ready .ase swatches for me to use with my drawings.

I created several variations for my final assignment, but I went with this one in the end:

























There were a few other contenders, too...


















































Which one is your favorite? And why?
I welcome your comments!

Textures and more bird sketches

I'm working on a project that now requires more background colors and textures, so I spent time yesterday creating watercolor paintings with different shades of blues, greens, and oranges to add to my library.

After I scanned these texture paintings in, I pulled out my white and graphite transfer paper and sketched on the still-damp paper. The wetness of the paper and the smudginess of the transfer paper give my drawings a dream-like quality, and I generally love the results.

On the cropped out sections below, I added some saturation in Photoshop to boost the background texture further...











































How I will incorporate this particular background, I'm not sure yet. I am hoping for further instruction while I sleep tonight.

Your comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome.

My final cuckoo clock submission

After a somewhat scattered process of sketching and assembling images, I created my final collage for my first MATS Bootcamp submission (more about this assignment + sketches can be found here).

I wanted my cuckoo clock image to portray time as a bit static and stuck, but also very layered and rich. This is the image I posted to Lilla's online gallery...
















As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.


MATS Bootcamp has begun!

I've enrolled in another course led by Lilla Rogers. This one is called Make Art That Sells: Assignment Bootcamp. It's different than the MATS A class that I took last year in a few ways:
  • In Bootcamp, we get three weeks for each assignment, plus one week downtime before the next one starts. In MATS A, we had one week to complete an assignment and no downtime. 
  • Lilla will not be critiquing the class submissions as she had in the A course, so there is much less interaction with Lilla herself.
  • Bootcamp is less expensive. Less Lilla, less $, I suppose.
The class began on February 3rd, and we were given the subject of Cuckoo Clocks. Lilla posted some great examples for reference and encouraged us all to just play for this first week (no worrying about money, career, results). I thought this was a super fun topic, and on various occasions, my son and I sat down at the kitchen table with his craft basket and drew with black pens and his favorite purple marker. Some of our drawings are here:



















At the beginning of the second week, we were given our actual assignment: create a phone cover with a cuckoo clock theme. Because of the vertical nature of the cover, and because I love drawing city buildings, I began focusing on the cuckoo clock as a Brooklyn brownstone. Here are a couple of examples:


Sketching bricks and worn-down facades kept veering me toward decay and the assemblage of broken pieces, however, and I start sketching hardware and darker birds, like the crow...



Ultimately, I realized I was envisioning a collage. Gears, hardware and premonitory blackbirds. A bit of melancholy and a bit of peace. I'll post my final piece shortly.

Snow days and a late Valentine's Day party

It's well after Valentine's Day, but we've had a ton of snow out here this winter, and my son's class is actually having their party today. We created cute little bags for his classmates, and I thought I'd share the template and our results.

To get the ball rolling, I made some of the hearts and a few other decorations, but my five year old impressively put in another two hours coloring the rest. I did the cutting, and my husband did the gluing (with a little Mod Podge). Together, we made 23 of these:


























We stuffed them with a piece of dark chocolate and a few heart stickers and sent them off with my son this morning. I am looking forward to hearing what the kids think!

If you'd like a copy of this template, you can download this picture below (select Fit to Print on your printer), or leave a comment, and I will email you a PDF.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!


Lions and Leos

In my free time, I've been working on a faux assignment that has a Circus theme. The circus has always seemed pretty sad to me, unfortunately, so I have had some difficulty figuring out a way to create from a place of joy. Because I do love cats, and because my son and husband are both Leos, I decided to focus on just a lion -- a tent-less, happy lion who likes to do tricks.

I will post again later with more little feats for my lion (and hopefully an entire pattern).
























My illustration in USA Today!

I received great news last night!
My illustration for The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly was featured in an article in USA Today, alongside a glowing review for the children's book publisher, ustyme! You can check out the article here.
I'm truly thrilled. Congratulations to us all!


A tattoo side project

Although I don't usually take on tattoo projects (I feel tattoos should be a collaboration between the tattoo-ee and the tattoo-er), I am helping one of my dearest friends from childhood design her new tattoo. This tattoo creation is an homage to her wonderful and jubilant mother, who sadly now has Alzheimer's Disease. We will be including a cardinal (her mom's favorite), the purple ribbon (for Alzheimer's awareness), and the forget-me-not flower (a symbol of the Alzheimer's Society).

I'm in the first stages of sketching, but here are some rough outlines thus far. I'll post more as they develop, and we decide on color.





Holiday card collaging has begun

I've tried a variety of both digital and traditional ideas for our holiday cards this year, and I've decided to stick with traditional cut and paste. Using all of our scraps from unused painting and drawings, my son and I will be creating little collages of wintry, holiday scenes.

Below is one of my first. I title this one, "Dream Big This Year."

Closeup of my bird cutout































Tomie's Sneeze

Last year, when I saw other illustrators posting on Facebook about their entries to the Tomie dePaola Award, I felt wistful. I love his work, and my son and I have read Strega Nona's Harvest at least 100 times. I wanted to send something in to him too.

This year, I was reminded of the contest in Kathy Temean's informative blog, Writing and Illustrating. The contest this year was to illustrate a short poem, targeting a very young viewer. Square format, 8x8, and must either include this poem or leave room for it:
Sneeze
A sneeze
Is a breeze
In
Your
Nose. 

I've been on a real bird kick these days, and I started sketching bird ideas right away. With snow days and half days at my son's school, though, I didn't really get started until a couple of days ago, and its been a pretty intense few days of drawing and re-drawing.

Before submitting my final drawing last night (the deadline was midnight PST), I thought of all the elements I could have added. All the tiny details that would have made this more curious and intriguing. I became insecure and hesitant. I wondered if I should submit it at all. After about an hour of hemming and hawing, I decided to let the doubts go and ship it. At the very least, I will be more aware of adding those details on my next (and current) projects. Try, learn, improve. Repeat.

Below is my final drawing, as well as some of the sketches that got me there...

My final drawing.






















This sketch has the sneeze going up his nose, instead of out. Oops. Redo.
























One of my first sketches. Again, more of a hay fever-type of inhale-sneeze. Redo.

Finishing last week's bird illustration

Although I draw using traditional methods (generally with a Sharpie marker or Pilot Rollerball), in last week's bird illustration I had decided to add color traditionally as well, using watercolor. I enjoy watercoloring, but I was very aware at how long it was taking me. I felt confined by the paint's permanency, and not being free to hit Cmd+z and try something else. I just wasn't losing myself in this art, which is something I really love to do.

So, I switched gears, and began to color my illustration digitally. As I'd hoped, time slipped away, and I was immersed in the process. I felt light and happy, which I hope I conveyed through my bright red birds.

This work is titled "Birds in the Tree (Commit)," and is now also available as a print here.

Next week, I hope to focus on this year's holiday card. I'll be posting along the way.

Adding color

I've started to watercolor my bird drawing, moving along in phases. The yellows ended up with a much more greenish tone that I had wanted, and the transition to blue is a bit harsh, so I will probably digitally tweak the background. But I'll fill in the tree next and decide which colors feel unbalanced. More to follow!



































Like finding an untouched page in a coloring book

Today's drawing has begun with a slight change. Instead of drawing with my black ink pen on 8-1/2 x 11 typing paper, which I scan and color digitally, I have started this piece on watercolor paper. I used a Sharpie (which won't bleed), and I'll be pulling out my watercolor palette shortly. I have a similar anticipation that I had when I was a kid, when I would find an untouched page in a thought-to-be-completed coloring book. I'll post the color results as soon as I can. Here is my drawing so far...