Promo Piece Finished - Let's Paint a Zebra

I finished my promo mailer illustration. I now have to do a small illustration on the back of it which should take no time. I got to include my favorite character - Squeekie, the curious cat (he is inside the gloss bucket)- and I also added my 'Playful Pixies' logo. I like how it turned out.

Justin Gordon - A World Class Sculptor

(Courtesy Photo - Justin Gordon -Source: Twitter)

Congratulations to my former wood carving teacher for winning the Master Sand Sculpting competition at Hampton Beach, NH. You did a beautiful job but I am not surprised. You always do regardless of the medium. Next.....the World Sand Sculpting Championship...I can't wait to see what you plan to do for that!.........Best wishes, from your student!

SCBWI - Squeekie's first public commitment.

I was recently contacted by the Carolinas Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. They had decided to pick one of the illustrations I submitted, for the Summer issue of their magazine. It is pretty exciting to see my character, Squeekie (the curious cat), make his debut in such great publication.

I want to thank Bonnie Adamson for the opportunity.

Promo Piece - Let's Paint a Zebra

I am working on assignment #10 of the Zero2illo 12WC. We have to create a promotional mailer and this sketch is one of the illos I'll be putting on a postcard to be mailed to publishers. I did this illustration on my plane ride from Boston to Charlotte. Enjoy!

Sand Sculpting - A Baby Buddha

I was given the opportunity to sculpt at one of the most popular sand events in New England, the Hampton Beach Sand Sculpting Competition. An event that brings the most talented sculptors from all over the world, including my former woodcarving teacher, Justin Gordon. What an amazing experience it was. I was not in the competition because I am very much a novice with this medium but I was still allowed to sculpt behind the main sculptures in the event and I got to meet most of the sculptors. There were big crowds watching us work and they took pictures of all sculptures including my first try at sand. It was a lot of fun.

I have no experience with this medium and I have never done a large scale sculpture before. Most of my work is fairly small, very detailed and well planned but this experience with sand took me out of that environment completely. There were no rulers, no pictures, no references, no wireframes, no drawings. Only my hands and sand tools. When I was told to do a baby buddha, my first reaction was a puzzled look. A baby buddha?..ahh, what does that look like other than the obvious features?? I desperately needed a picture but there was none around. Thankfully, my former teacher, Justin, provided guidance throughout the process and I was able to finish my first piece. It was very much a challenge indeed. I never finished an sculpture in a day. What takes my teacher 3-4 hours, took me about 8 hours but at the end I felt great about what I accomplished. I definitely went outside the box and tried something new regardless of the outcome.

The sponsors of the event were great, always making sure we were fine and giving us vouchers for free lunch. I enjoyed it and I had a lot of fun.

I do have to say that as I look at my sculpture, I wish I could go back and change so many things I feel I did wrong with the proportions but then I realize that it is a new medium for me and it takes time to master. It is all about practice and a little bit of planning.

The Beauty of a Sketch

The beauty of a sketch that never came to be. I like to look at sketches I have done in the past. This one was a sketch I intended to finish but for one reason or another, I abandoned. Later on, it did become an inspiration for one of my sculptures.

BAD KITTY - THE BIKER GIRL

I am currently working on the wire frame for a new sculpture. I expect to do a girl sitting on a motorcycle. For this particular project, I used reference material from the Harley Davidson main site. I picked the 2010 new Fat Boy - Lo motorcycle model to replicate. It is the one that appealed to me the most. I didn't do any initial sketches of the motorcycle prior to sculpting since the Harley Davidson website shows the bikes from all sorts of angles which is great. I will probably be doing sketches for the biker girl, however.

The wire frame for the bike was somewhat challenging because it is somewhat hard to picture the bike without the engine and it was not easy to find a picture of just a frame for that particular motorcycle model. The frames can be very different from one bike model to the next.

I'll update you all with new pictures when I get more done. Enjoy!