Work in progress . . . Audiobook Cover

Thought I'd post some sketches and working images of this illustration-in-progress. Initial ideas were sent to the client via text message attachment. I was at Barnes & Noble sipping coffee and working on ideas. I used my cell phone to snap a few photos of sketches and sent them to the client. He called me back and we discussed the sketches and agreed on a concept. The story is narrated by the sister of a boy who dies of cancer. Baseball plays a central role in the story, and the glove is an important linking element.

This is the concept we agreed on.

This is the cover comp. It's a rough idea of how the concept will look in color, in place with the title & text. This is also where I begin to work out the composition, lighting, etc.

This is the final sketch of the concept. I scanned this and brought it into Photoshop for painting.

I colored the background and began blocking in the window and curtain, working my way to the rest of the background and then the figure.

More work on the background and window. Reworked the face and decided to add some filtered shadows in the lighting.

Here's a detail of the face. I think this part's done.

A little more work on the face to warm up some of the skin tones. Worked on her left hand & arm ... still awkward, needs more work. The glove is finished, except for final once over when everything else is done. Added more contrast between the figure and background.

Finished! Several projects in between the last entry and today. Here's the final illustration and the cover with the artwork in place. I painted a lot that wouldn't be seen in the final crop to allow me some flexibility when it came to positioning the image on the package cover.  This was painted in Photoshop CS3.

click images for larger view

ADIRONDACK EXPLORER - (these images are copyrighted)

Selected Drawings from 10 years of illustrating for The Adirondack Explorer

click image to view all

Illustration Friday: Canned

Once again, a canned entry for Illustration Friday. Some day, I'll find the time to actually do something specifically for the topic. Until then, if it's a fit, I'll submit.

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Fungus Pix

Fungus

Some time ago, I was on a walk in the woods with my digital camera in hand, and saw a softball-sized Puffball mushroom. So I took a picture. Next to this, was another different and no less interesting fungus. I took a few pix of that one too. Then, I started looking, and before I knew it, I had several dozen shots of all shapes, sizes and colors of fungus.
Now, I look for fungi -- they're everywhere. I choose the best of the hundreds of pictures I've taken and post them on my Fungus Photos page. Take a look, you'll be surprised how beautiful these little decomposers can be!
My next step is to identify them all.

Prints and other gift items featuring some of these photos, as well as some of my artwork can be found online in my Studio309 Gift Shop.

Illustration Friday: Homage

AirWaterFireEarth
Homage to Cezanne's style
Oil on canvas
32" square

This probably breaks the rules, but I finished this painting a few days before the topic was posted. It does generally fit the topic. :-)
This painting is for a group show titled "Elements".
I referred heavily to Cezanne's work while completing this one. I'll probably do something else on topic, but in the mean time, I wanted to get my new blog up and running with an active Illustration Friday element.
Besides, I was pretty happy with this painting and wanted to share it. :-)