Archives: May 2007

Cars

Posted on May 29, 2007 by Dani

I don’t really have time to make a full illustration this week, but I was recently tagged by m.b, and since this seems to be an Illustration Friday thing, I’ve decided to paste it onto my “Cars” sketch.

So, here are seven random things about me:

1. My favorite type of food is Mexican, followed closely by fried chicken.

2. I am a triplet. I have two sisters who are identical to me. No, we never tried to fool our teachers while we were in school. However, one of my sisters and I made the other cry when we tried to fool her.

3. To blow off steam, I like to play Contra.

4. I am currently subscribed to about 195 art related blogs. Yes, I look at each new post; yes, it takes a lot of time; and yes, I need a life.

5. There are four or five other more important jobs that I can be working on right now instead of writing this post.

6. My favorite flowers are lilacs.


7. I hate drawing cars.

Posted in Artwork | Tagged | 12 Comments

Record Your Art

Posted on May 25, 2007 by Dani
Record Your Art

Have you ever wondered how I create my videos for this website? This tutorial is for every artist who has ever wanted to record their digital painting process in order to share with others, or simply watch for fun later. Here, I will cover the screen recording software I use and how I go about shooting, editing, and distributing my digital illustration demos.

This post is quite a doozie, and it answers one of the most commonly asked questions that I get from you readers. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

Posted in Tutorials | Tagged | 3 Comments

Reading Friends

Posted on May 24, 2007 by Dani

Look at that…it’s taken me over a week to recover from the NESCBWI Conference and put up another post. It was a lot of fun and I met several great people.

This is a little illustration that I made the other day, just for fun.

Posted in Artwork | Tagged | 5 Comments

Inking Videos

Posted on May 22, 2007 by Dani

I was doing a little browsing in YouTube and found these videos. I thought I would share them with all of you, since I don’t have another post ready just yet. So, to keep your creative mind fed, here’s some inking tips to inspire you. Also check out my recent Ink and Paint video.

Happy Drawing!

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Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged | 3 Comments

What Do You Hate to Draw?

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Dani
Hatetodraw

I recently got an assignment to illustrate a small educational reader. One of the illustrations contained all of the following objects: a bicycle, a house, a car, and a horse.

I’m sure I let out an audible groan.

The thing is, I hate drawing every single one of those objects. Do I have something against them? No…but the thought of drawing them multiple times in various perspectives gives me a headache (and if you’re not a fan of perspective, a bicycle can be your worst nightmare, believe me!). I enjoy drawing little cuddly animals and cute kids. Most everything else, I can do without.

Every artist will come across this problem, and probably quite frequently. If you are a working illustrator, you can’t just push it aside.

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Posted in Thoughts & Advice | Tagged | 18 Comments

Progress

Posted on May 15, 2007 by Dani

I am currently working on my second picture book, The Best Mariachi in the World. This is a small piece of the illustration that I have been painting today. Only a few more to go…whew!

I am also trying to get stuff together for the New England SCBWI conference this weekend. This is my first conference, so I’m kinda psyched. If you happen to be there, go ahead and introduce yourself.

I thought this was a good time to get some business cards printed. Here’s what they look like:

Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments

Paint Some Life into Your Skin Tones

Posted on May 14, 2007 by Dani
Painting Skin Tones

One of the biggest challenges a beginning painter will face is learning to paint flesh tones. The skin is highly complex, made up of varying colors and textures; if you get one thing wrong, you could end up with some pretty scary results.

Here’s a few simple tips to help you conquer this problem.

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Posted in Tutorials | Tagged , | 9 Comments