PBM day off (?) : 5 Thumbnails

"Picture Book Marathon Thumbnails"

Picture Book Marathon (PBM)

2012 Graphite.

I couldn't let another day pass without saying something. First of all, I'm still deciding whether to count the past few days as part of my 3 freebies, or to make them up later. Second of all I wanted to show some of what I've been doing BEHIND THE SCENES... I spend at least 1-2 hours brainstorming and sketching ideas almost everyday for PBM. Above is a collection of thumbnails for some of my favorite ideas to date. It is highly likely that all of these will become part of the Marathon!

Now on to FINISH the wedding cake topper! (Post to come next week after the wedding.)

PBM day 12 : Japan Festivals

"Japan Festivals" Rough Draft (to be finished later).

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 12

2012 Graphite.

Plot: This is a nonfiction/learn about other cultures book. I can't say I am an expert on the subject, and would probably have to spend a LOT more time researching into it, but the Japanese culture has always fascinated me, and this book would be fun to do!

A rough sketch is as much as I could get done today. I also missed yesterday...so I am debating on counting that as one of my 3 freebies (since I only need 26 picturebooks and there is 29 days in February.) Anyway, the wedding figure will be done this week...so my schedule should open back up... soon...which is when I will come and finish THIS picture book and all the other non-color/non-finished ones! (btw on Saturday I redrew and finished "Daddy's Clocks")

PBM day 11 : The Ghost Train Mystery

"The Ghost Train Mystery" Color Sketch

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 11

2012 Graphite and Digital.

This books would be an Easy Reader...which is a type of book that has a little more words than a standard picture book, but every page still has images.

Plot: Mr. Mayor Walnut has been receiving reports of suspicious activities and strange noises on an abandoned train track. Rumors are it involves GHOSTS. Private detective Jake is on the case! Mr. Jake is smart, resourceful, and absolutely not scared of the dark! The perfect combination for a midnight mystery. Anyway the gist of the story would be to help children feel braver about the dark and scary noises and things, while having a great adventure that makes them think as more clues are discovered in order to solve the mystery.

keep your eyes peeled on my blog today. I plan to color at least one of my older PBM covers! (It will not be a NEW post, I will just replace the pencil sketch version in the original post with color.)

PBM day 10 : Panda Explorers

"Panda Explorers" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 10

2012 Graphite and Digitial.

Plot:

Boldly going where no PANDA BEAR has gone before! haha Actually I wouldn't use that phrase in the book, but it is fun to say. In my opinion the cover tells it all. A father and son panda decide to leave China and explore space! What could more fun and exciting than that? What wonderful new discoveries will they uncover? What mischief will they get into as they travel to different planets? Find out in a far distant future!

If I were to do this book, I can't say I would be as adept and diverse at mystical space scenes as my good friend and fellow illustrator Jeff Porter is, but they sure would be FUN to draw!

So I finished this in about 2 hours. Sorry for the last few not being in color...but I'm spending most of my time this week and the next finishing the wedding cake topper. Laters!

PBM day 9 : A Jared and Meissa Adventure : The Magic Djinn

"A Jared & Meissa Adventure: The Magic Djinn" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 9

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot:

Before I explain the plot I need you to know that this is a bit of a departure from the standard "picture books" I've been doing...its more of a junior novel category (at least half the book would be images). This book would be part of a series of books following the adventures of Jared and Meissa .

In this particular adventure a shady man sells Jared a suspicious bottle. The bottle is later accidentally broken which unleashes a tricky and mischievous Djinn (a genie) which continually finds ways to make life difficult for both Jared and Meissa. It is common knowledge that a Djinn can only be trapped by a magical bottle. A wise woman selling glass bottles in the market tells them that the only seller of magical bottles is in Cairo. On their trip to Cairo they see many sights, avoid more of the Djinns curses, find the bottle maker and trap the Djinn once more!

So...yah. Another one that needs to be colored. I hope to get to coloring these over the weekend, but the wedding cake topper is due in a week from Friday! So we shall see what happens. Also, though today's was a departure I don't know how many of these I will do. Junior Readers take a LOT more planning and thinking than standard picture books! I love doing them, but for the sake of efficiency in the marathon I might stick to younger children picture books.

PBM day 8 : Clean Your ROOM

"Clean Your ROOM" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 8

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot:

The cover basically tells it all. A boy lets his room get ridiculously (unrealistically) messy. He sleeps wherever he wants, digs tunnels and caves, and has a great time playing hide and go seek in the jungle of his room with his friends. At one point he says, "Mom says I used to have a brother. I think he got lost several years ago in here." Basically the story is at first the benefits of having a super messy room, but in the end deals with the consequences and why it is good to keep it clean when parents ask. ^_^

I'm not sure if I would want to do this picture book due to the SHEER amount of JUNK I'd have to keep drawing, but I DID write a majority of the story accompanied with sketches!

Besides struggling to populate the pile of toys and such in the illustration Wednesdays are probably one of my busier days. Consequently, it is not in color, however I DID do a color comp and have plans to color it later this week (in addition to the 2 non-color ones from last week).

PBM day 7 : Dragon Manners

"Dragon Manners" Color Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 7.

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot:

"Dragons often like to make a mess. Some growl as they chew, others spit and accidentally sneeze fire on you. But a dragon with manners uses a spoon. They also don't slurp or guzzle or say I hate this! They are also polite with their food (knights)." There's more to this tale about manners...but this is the basic gist. It teaches children about manners from the perspective of a species that are normally VERY messy... which is a recipe for either disaster or fun!

Honestly I can't lie...I just wanted an excuse to draw a dragon! I've been drawing them since I was 12...and it has been awhile since I last did one.

I spent over five hours on this one...yah. I need to cut back on these so I can dedicate more time to the wedding cake topper. Don't worry the quality wont suffer, it's just the next few might, or might not be in color. ^_^