PBM day 26 : Trip to the Moon ~Supply List (END PBM)

"Trip to the Moon ~Supply List" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) 2012

2012 Graphite and Digital

Plot: This one is kinda self explanatory. If you were to make a trip to the moon by yourself what would you take? Well our friend here has quite an unusal assortment of things he plans to take with him! Come and see what how crazy a list needs to be!

Well this is it. The last Picture Book idea for the Marathon. Phew. In the next week or so I will make a sentimental post about the Marathon (what I learned and my assessment of doing it) but don't forget to visit often. I am still planning on colorizing/finalizing all of the sketches to the same level of completeness (color)! Thanks for reading!

PBM day 25 : Rain, Rain Go Away

"Rain, Rain Go Away" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) Day 25

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: A boy uses his imagination to cope with a rainy day. Strange things start happening to his neighborhood, soon he is transported into a magic fun-filled adventure!

PBM day 24 : Tallest Castle in the World

"Tallest Castle in the World" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) Day 24

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: A greedy miserly prince builds a very tall castle. The castle was so tall that it could be seen 10 kingdoms away! Nor can birds fly to the top! In the tallest tower, in the castle of the miserly prince is his GOLD and treasures...piled high from the dungeon to the sky. This miserly prince seems happy and stays inside playing video games all day...when a dragon comes a knocking at his door. What will happen when the miserly prince opens it?!

I found it less stressful to finish all three at the same time. I'm done and caught up!

PBM day 23 : Bath Time (and cake topper preview)

"Bath Time" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) Day 23

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: I splash, I chase the soap, I play with my duck and try to get my cat soaked. Out of the tub I'm almost done, time to go talk to daddy and get me ready for bed.

This idea really stems around my own son, who is so darn cute! He has ALWAYS loved taking baths, and the hardest part is making him realize when he pulls the plug, bath time is OVER! (and its usually his fault).

3 MORE IDEAS TO GO!!!

Wedding cake topper preview:

"Star Doors" Wedding Cake Topper

2012 12-Guage steel wire, 10 gauge aluminum wire,

super sculpey, and acrylic paint.

I hope to say more about this in the next week or so with a PROCESS post.

PBM day 22 : Defeating Monsters

"Defeating Monsters" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 22

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: "The Giant Sock-illa you rope his horn. The SLIMY-gloopy ooze, you pour salt on. Bajillion teeth squawker you try to brush its teeth!..." The list goes on and ON! The idea for this book would be taking something that is scary and making it seem funny! Going through different monsters and how to deal with them.

As a heads up/update...I am posting two ideas today, two ideas tomorrow, and one on wednesday (which is the deadline). Due to the amount of things I have going on they will most likely not be in color (yet). The wedding ended up taking more time and attention than I planned for!

Speaking of wedding, I'll include a picture of the cake topper in the next post! In the next week or so I might even get to the process post. ^_^

PBM day 21 : Too Much Vacation...

"Too Much Vacation..." Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 21

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: "We're tired of the heat, we're tired of the sun, its time to move closer to in-laws where its cold, cloudy and fun." Basically this family living on Hawaii is tired of it and they decide to move somewhere opposite...like Wisconsin. It would be a funny book that goes against what people normally think of as ideal (since they already live in paradise).

This is in part a congratulations to my mother in law Tutu and Eric, for getting a job in order to move away from that HORRIBLE place called HAWAII (Drat. I was hoping to use them as an excuse to visit), but it is also such a FUNNY idea!

Apparently I failed to anticipate something called SOCIALIZATION, surrounding my brother's wedding (which is tomorrow). My Grandparents flew in this afternoon. So to make up for it I included the color comp that I completed below (it is a map of what the colors might look like on the finished cover):

"Too Much Vacation..." Color Comp.

Also as a heads up...I will not be able to post tomorrow or Sunday. I hope to get a picture book idea in for Saturday...so that means I will have at least 2 ideas to make up! Sigh... (this wedding thing is complicating things. haha!)

As a final note, I made further contact with the art representative I hope to be part of, and the list of things I need to work on KEEPS SHRINKING!

PBM day 20 : NO Valentines Day

"No Valentines Day" Color Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 20

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: My older brother told me ALL about Valentines day. It's the one day that girls go weird...well I mean weirder. They suddenly go CRAZY and start chasing you and giving hearts! My brother said the next thing that comes is holding hands, and sharing lunches...YUCK! Why don't they just BAN such a terrible day? Tear if off the calendar since it is SO DANGEROUS?!

This is my belated Valentines idea. Look at that CUTE cute girl on the right! Man, I could MARRY her...oh wait, I already did. haha ^_^

PBM day 19 : Pirate Princess

"Pirate Princess" Color Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 19

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: A girl's Halloween is ruined by the neighborhood bullies who stole her bag of candy. To console herself, she imagines herself as a pirate (like the movie she had seen earlier that day). "If I were a pirate I would PLUNDER all me candy back...and ALL the candy they've EVER STOLEN! And then I would have a PARTY with all the good kids which would last all night long!"

The story would go on to describe how terrible of a pirate she would be, "so terrible that the bullies cower in fear. So terrible that the mean alley cats run and hide! In the end the girl gets her candy back..apparently one of the bullies younger sister forced them...she's holding a pirates sword and winks at the main character as the front door is shut . ^_^

Cute story huh? It seems I can't get away from pirates. Another one of those childhood things.

PBM day 18 : ME

"ME" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 18

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: The book will go through the traits of a self confident happy girl (Lauren) and what constitutes HER world. "What makes ME ...ME!" Then the book would help readers, identify the elements in their world and also apply and be grateful for what they have so that they can be as happy as Lauren.

8 MORE TO GO (until 26 Picture Book Ideas)! WOOT! I'm ALMOST THERE!

PBM day 17 : My Tunnel to China

"My Tunnel to China" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 17

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: I can't remember a time when I didn't enjoy playing in the dirt and digging holes, even now I still enjoy it. When I was younger I used to imagine that I could dig a tunnel to China and then find some Chinese Currency laying on the road(much like can with U.S. pennies and nickels) and take it back with me. I also enjoyed digging deep holes...the deepest I've gone so far is 11 feet! So you can imagine this story is based around that concept.

It is a semi nonfiction book where a boy digs to China, learns about the geology of the Earth and then about the Chinese culture. Sometimes children get strange ideas about people in different countries, its always nice to help them see that they are normal people, living lives that they think is normal!

At one point, right after the main character pops up in China the Police will come up to him, "Sir you cannot dig a tunnel here! It is against the law!" And then the boy will say, "But this is my back yard!" I think this book would also be one of those you would have to keep turning! Like the first half of the book would be one way, and then once he gets to China you would have to turn the book upside down. ^_^

PBM day 16 : Kitty Kitty Tat the Cat

"Kitty Kitty Tat the Cat" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 16

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: A very cute rhyme book about Tat the cat! (I'm sure you can see where this is going.) Basically the main character brings up different points about her cute cat and why she loves him....or cats in general...with RHYMES!

Today I am posting 3 more posts for Picture Book Marathon. I hope everyone will forgive me for these post dumps! I think this officially catches me up and then some (in preparation for the time my brother's wedding this weekend is going to consume!)

I had some nice colorcomps to go along with day 16, 17, and 18, but I left my flashdrive at work...which had the files. Maybe I will add them later. In the meantime, I will not be able to fully color them before the february deadline, however I already have plans to do that in March (for the Marathon all I need is the PictureBook plot and cover to qualify as a day.) In fact I also have plans to use the process I've developed for these sketch illustrations as a base for my actual portfolio pieces! I'm excited to try that out in March as well.

PBM day 15 : How NOT to Cook

"How NOT to Cook" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 15

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: Mom isn't feeling good today and daddy is at work. So I decided to cook lunch! I got out the cookbook to see what I could make! Spaghetti, Tuna patties, and jello cake, what could be more yummy! Cookies, rolls, lasagna too! After she finalized her list of what to cook... on to the making! Add a bit of this and bunch of that! In the end the lesson she learns is to not cook without supervision.

PBM day 14 : Through a Camera Lens

"Through a Camera Lens" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 14

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: An exploration of the world through a camera! Taking joy and making exciting discoveries in her house, yard, and neighborhood.

PBM day 13 : My Big Blue Umbrella

"My Big Blue Umbrella" Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 13

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: A girl rumages through a coat closet and finds a big blue umbrella. She wields it around the house and the yard making mischeif. There would be lots of rhyming!

I am going to post several picture book ideas today...they are going to be colorless...and with about a week and half left of the month....and my brother getting married next week, I probably wont get to color until March...but at least the ideas will be posted!

How about the wedding cake topper? Its almost finished. Going to spend the rest of the night working on it!

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. ^_^

PBM day 6 : Mr. Penguin Goes North for the Winter

"Mr. Penguin Goes North for the Winter" Color Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 6.

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot:

A charming story about Mr. Penguin who is bored of the South Pole and tired of the cold (of which I ended up writing the whole story, accompanied with rough images). All birds go south for the winter, but he is as far south as you can go! So he decides to head North. Not only is it warmer up there, but the birds party all day long!

Mr. Penguin goes on a journey, meets new friends, and see new sights. In the end he has fun, but the north is too hot for him and he misses his old friends. Perhaps the cold isn't that bad? He goes back home with a gift his new friends gave, and with this gift he brings a bit of the northern life to the South Pole!

Yes, I just created PENGUIN GLOVES! And yes, I'm back on schedule for color! yay!

So if anyone is keeping track: 6 days down...20 more to go! I wish I could say I spent all last year thinking up the ideas for this marathon, but I didn't. In fact each day I just sit down at a blank peice of paper and begin to write words, phrases, or draw pictures until something clicks. Let's hope this method keeps working!

PBM day 5 : Underwater

"Underwater" Cover Pencil Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 5.

2012 Graphite.

Plot: This is a semi-nonfiction story of discovery. "What wonderful discoveries lay beneath the surface of the rolling ocean? Come and let's explore together!" I've always been fascinated with the power, majesty and mystery surrounding the ocean...and I think it would be fun to do a book about it.

Obviously I miraculously found some time to crank out a children's book idea for Sunday...which if Blogger does its job by posting it on Sunday, I will be completely happy (I scheduled it to post at 8am). As you can tell this is another picture book idea that is only a sketch. I hope to color/finalize it in the next week or so.

As a side note I'm really enjoying this exercise as it gives me the opportunity to see "the big picture." Far too often I come up with a good idea for an illustration and then spend days or weeks completing it. This Marathon has been allowing me to create many "illustrations" that look semi complete, which forces me to constantly think about design, color and value structure, without having to invest dozens and dozens hours on a finished product.

PBM day 4 : Daddy's Alarm Clocks

"Daddy's Alarm Clocks" Color Sketch

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 4.

2012 Graphite and Digital.

"Daddy's Alarm Clocks" Pencil Sketch

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 4.

2012 Graphite.

Plot: Dad has a hard time waking up in the morning, so he needs to use an alarm, but mom HATES his alarm. It is loud, annoying, and often wakes up baby brother! So Dad decides to get a new alarm...he tries clock after clock, each one giving mom more or a headache. In the end mom is happy with his old one.

11 February edit:

I spent most of the time I alloted to myself editing the content instead of just the colors. I also probably shouldn't have made the light source so dramatic, since that always complicates things, but I think it turned out great!

PBM day 3 : How to Control your Parents

"How to Control your Parents" Cover Sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 3.

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: The boy concocts many different ways to control his parents to not only do what he wants, but to avoid cleaning his room and eating his vegetables. Unfortunately none of his plans work, but he discovers a greater secret...if he ACTUALLY does what his parents ask, he still gets treats/toys and whether the parents know it or not he is controlling them that way.

In total I think I spent around 3 hours on this one (concept to finish). I keep finding ways to shorten the process while cranking out something that is coherent and fun. You might notice that this one is a little cleaner, and that is because I used an airbrush in a watercolor way for the whole coloring process, and I also left the underdrawing on the tracing paper pretty airy and textureless (especially when compared to the pirate one).

[edit: 4 February 2012. I somehow misspelled control as contol. Its now fixed.]

PBM day 2 : Pirates are scared of the dark?

"Pirates are Scared of the Dark?" Cover sketch.

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 2.

2012 Graphite and Digital.

Plot: Are pirates scared of the dark? "OF COURSE NOT," They roar! However once the light goes out what fills their heads? Tales of Ghosts, skeletons, and slurpy, sloppy monsters from the sea. Basically the story will show how at least one pirate deals with his "scared of the dark" phobia, or realizes that there is nothing really to be afraid of.

I'm having an absolute blast with these! I don't think they will all be color (especially the next two weeks, where I have a BIG deadline to deal with), but expect some good ideas!

Just as an FYI I made adjustments to yesterdays "Frosty morning" illustration (My good friend Amelia pointed out some serious perspective errors. Thanks!)

Frosty Morning and PBM day1

"Frosty Morning"

2012 Graphite, Watercolor, and Digital.

So I have to say that this picture does not exactly represent the weather here...the past few days it has been in the 60's! Regardless, I completed this for the monthly topic over at Childrensillustrator.

Whew, this piece is among my best, but I am still unsure if I am completely happy with it. So please give me any and all types of feedback! I need it. One thing I will say is that this illustration was groundbreaking for color and light usage in a complete background environment.

PICTURE BOOK MARATHON 2012 ~ DAY 1:

"Monster School cover sketch"

Picture Book Marathon (PBM) day 1.

2012 Graphite, and Digital

Plot: Basically the timid girl in the picture recently moved. Little did her parents know that she got enrolled in a school for monsters...nor did they believe her! In the end she comes to the realization that everyone is different, but good...even if monsters.

I have this idea pretty developed with sketches and everything. It wouldn't be too hard to write out a dummy for this.

Day 1 didn't seem that hard, but if I plan to make 25 more of these this month I will need to pace myself. I probably spent a little bit too much time working on this one. I have to say it was a lot of fun since I had like ZERO time to think and worry about things and just go with the flow.

Process:

concept

concept sketch

scan

warp, edit concept sketch

Do color/value comp

print comp lightened. draw with pencil on it.

Trace and finalize sketch

scan

add colors in photoshop.