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Building a portfolio
I made a decision at the beginning of the year to focus more on my illustration than my writing this year. It suddenly made sense that this is what I should be doing because it was art that was my first love when I was young. I am rekindling that passion. So far it has been a great journey with lots of hard work but satisfying results. I’m not an expert yet but I am better than I was at the start of the year and that is what practice is all about. I was a roving reporter for this year’s Biannual SCBWI Conference and I had the opportunity to…
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New Year – New Projects
It’s a brand new year and a perfect time to feel refreshed and get stuck into some new projects. I have participated in #doodleadayjan and started an online writing and illustrating picture books course which I am throughly enjoying. I need prompts to make me work and this has been great for getting me to try new skills with my drawing. #doodleadayjan was a good way to warm up my skills and not forget them before starting the course. Here is a selection of my hand drawn illustrations from the drawing challenge: And here is a selection of my digital illustrations: I’m so glad I participated as I felt there…
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Inktober 2018 continued (and a little cat obsessed)
Here are the next lot of my #inktober2018 drawings: As you can see, I really got into drawing my little cat character. I like to call him shadow cat. Day 22 was as far as I got but it inspired me to do other drawings which also included cats 🙂
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#inktober2018
It has been a while since I have participated in a drawing challenge. 52 Week Drawing Challenge founded by Tania McCartney ended and I got a part-time job as an art teacher in a local primary school. My time has become limited for my own creativity but I felt a longing to get back into it. Inktober was perfect! I’m not going to beat myself up about the fact I didn’t complete the challenge because that is pointless and on the plus side I did more drawings than I would have done not even attempting the challenge. So here are the first 10 days:
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A Fun Day Out Illustration Competition
The results have come in for the New England Illustration Prize. Well done to the winners and everyone who entered! My illustration for the theme ‘A Fun Day Out,’ didn’t get selected but I am okay with that. Being a writer means you get used to rejections. I come away feeling that I am glad I entered because you have to be in it to win it, and if you don’t enter your chances are zero. Rejections seem to spur me on to do better next time and that’s the great thing about competitions. Plus, I come away with an illustration I might not have even bothered attempting if I…
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KIDLITVIC & CYA CONFERENCE 2017
So much has gone on in the past month I do not know how I managed to fit it all in on top of a brand new job. So this post will be a bit of a photo fest to try and include everything. First their was KIDLITVIC2017. If you haven’t attended this yearly festival yet than it is a ‘must’ for next year. I flew down to Melbourne excited to mingle with authors, illustrators, editors and agents. The best thing about writers festivals and conferences is meeting up with like-minded people who become your friends for life. Then I went and unexpectedly got myself a job as a part-time…
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SCBWIAuNZ Sketch & Scribble at Luna Park
Today I participated in SCBWI’s Sketch & Scribble event held at Luna Park. It was so much fun. Lots of chatter, catching up with fellow writers and illustrators amongst beautiful views. What more could you ask for? Well maybe Luna Park being open for starters! Yes, it was closed but that just added to the humour of the day. We are creatives. We can work around this hiccup. And we did, taking a lovely stroll through Wendy Whitely’s Secret Garden. So if Luna Park had been open we all would have been none the wiser about this secret treasure behind the park. Children’s author Katrina McKelvey prompted us to ‘look…
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Jan – March 52 Week Illustrations
It is already the 4th April. I have decided not to worry about deadlines for the illustrations this year but rather focus on participating, developing my drawing skills and exploring new styles and techniques. I have also decided not to worry about completing each theme. This year I am going to complete the ones that resonate with me. So here they are… Week 2: Feathered Animals I used the Sketch App. I love woodcuts and decided to play around to see if I could get a similar effect. So I used black shape option to create simple black bird shapes and then went over the top in white. I liked…
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December – 52 Week Illustrations
I feel this year my motto might very well be: ‘Better Late Than Never.’ I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. I have always been a punctual person, like half an hour early kind of punctual, but this year I have already missed the dates for 3/4 of the themes for this January’s 52 Week Illustration Challenge. Should I give up? I ask myself this every year. See last years blog post: #illo52weeks – January’s Ilustrations And each December I am always super glad I didn’t give up as I find myself looking over 52 different styles of illustrations, some rubbish, some good and some I am really…
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November – 52 week Illustration Challenge
Week 44: Spain – acrylic paints I really enjoyed painting this illustration of my flamenco dancing flamingoes. I based it on a similar one from last year’s challenge of some foxtrotting foxes here: Week 36 – 2015 Week 45: Zebra – acrylic paints Then I came up with the idea of a zip-lining zebra! I discovered a sketch book of canvas paper. I love the effect it has and how nice it is to paint on. Week 46: Treehouse – copic markers During this week a friend of mine was travelling around Australia and shared a photo of a tree – circa 1858 Johann Herbig and his wife Anna…
