Brownish girl

Digital illustration for today! I love brownish colors :)

It seems today I'm feeling a little better, I'm not as hoarse as yesterday, if only a little, so that's something good. I just need to rest a little more and I will recover soon. Now, with pencil colors again!, I finished two illustrations with them these days. I will show them here soon.

Today's officially Halloween day in my country! Have fun, those who celebrate it :)

Franpkin

Digital illustration inspired by Halloween and Frankenstein... with half pumpkin head... why not? I had fun doing it!

So, I'm a little ill these days and I don't feel like drawing too much, but I'm doing it anyway, just a little slower than usual. Next week I think I will feel better (cross fingers), and maybe I will go to take some photos with a friend. It will be one restless, but that's good!

See you soon, have fun!

Tea with lemon

Tea time! Another illustration of my dear "cup series"

I have a cold, so I think to drink a hot tea is the best I can do ;), and to stay at home. I hope I get better for tomorrow... but it seems I'm more and more hoarse as the day pass by ;___;.

Tomorrow a new illustration! See you!

Little witch

Today a little sketch from my old Moleskine of a little witch!

Halloween is almost here! Will you dress up for it? I won't, but I think it's a good excuse for people to have fun and pretend to be a different person.. or character ;) once in a while.

Hope you have fun this week!! See you tomorrow!

Commission

An old commission for a friend :) This time I show you its original sketch.

I normally prefer sketching directly on a paper sheet and later to scan it to finish it with the computer digitally. Some people like to sketch directly with their graphic tablet, and it's perfectly ok, you can do it! But I feel the need to add anything... "tactile" or traditional to as many of my drawings as possible. I like it that way.

Have a nice weekend!! :)

Charlotte 2

I forgot I had this sketched in my Moleskine from when I drew this, only this time I only used a different digital style with it :).

Today to keep drawing and later to watch a film with my sister! a little relaxed day ;). Weekend is almost here, so try your best today, because week is almost over!

See you!

Looking forward

Today is a holiday here! Everything feel relaxed and you can't see too many people outside home (at least where I live). But I still will keep working with some digital illustrations.

These past weeks (if not more) I have been working on something that I hope will end well, though it will take time and nothing is sure nowadays (also, it's not about myself alone, it involves more people, so more responsibility is needed). But looking at the good side of all this, even if it doesn't work at the end, let's face it, I'm learning a lot of new things, and that's the worse that could happen :). Now I need time to organize myself and keep working and to do my best!

Nothing else for today! Have fun!

Breakfast time!

It's breakfast time right now! Let's start the day with energy!

Illustration done with pencil colors. From now on, these are my favourite pencil's brand! I almost feel bad about using them :(. I want them to last forever...

Yesterday was a productive day! Finally I got time to draw! I almost finished a new illustration that I will try to show soon here ;).

Have fun and see you tomorrow!

Warm nap

New digital illustration! Actually, it's been on my computer finished for... two months maybe? It needed to be shown soon :). I had a lot of fun with it.

With this illustration I wanted to play with "patterns", at least in the cushions. Also, I wanted to play with them, and make them look almost like if they were "flying" or in the air. Maybe that's what she is dreaming about? Her nap is about to finish...

Nothing else for today! Have fun and see you tomorrow :)

Orange juice

With lack of sleep... maybe an orange juice will help ;)?

Another illustration from my little series of "cups". I sketched a few more, they are already scanned. Now I need to start with them as soon as possible... although I still have some work to do... But I feel motivated!! :)

That's all for today!! Have fun and tomorrow more!!

Pig and turtle

A little sketch I made to decorate a friend's present (I colored them with acrylics) ... a year ago, maybe? She had a little Vietnamese pot belly pig. And she liked turtles too. Now I wish I had taken photos of this part of present at least :(

Nothing more for today!! Have a nice day!

Aplause

Again another watercolor practice from my Moleskine, this time with warm colors :)

This week is being a chaos! I need to rest and I don't get time to draw :(. Though a good news came with it that made me really happy, I will try to tell you soon (or as soon as I get everything needed ready for it) ;). So, this is the week for sketches!! Even when I was not in my house, I always carried with me a little sketchbook. I hope next week will be more "productive"!

Have fun and see you tomorrow!!

Sown land

A pencil illustration I drew a week ago, I think.

Those colors were new, a present from my mother, and I thought about using them with an illustration to test them, and I can only say... Wow, they shine so much!! too much maybe, even more in real life, though my scanner reproduced its color quite well. But, thanks to this pack I have some colors I never saw in pencil colors before, so I will mix them with different brands ;)

See you tomorrow!! :)

Teapot and cup

A new digital illustration from my "cup series" (together with a teapot this time!). I have posted one every week. I hope I can keep doing it! I will try it at least!

Today was a busy day, and I'm utterly tired, so, nothing more for today! Hope you have a nice day and see you tomorrow!! :)

Bye Bye summer

I drew this kid right after the summer ended :)

I think it was a good summer for me, with ups and down, but a good one nonetheless. A good starting point, but it's time to go forward! there's a long way ahead. Slowly but without stopping (as a teacher I had when I was a kid used to say)

Tomorrow more! Have fun!

[Book review] Illustrating Children's Books

Lately I'm very interested about collecting many books, some children's books with different illustration styles and others more... "theoretical" information about the illustration world. I thought to tell you about some of these books I like, once in a while, and that I think you would like to know about.

This one I decided to start with is Illustrating Children's Books: Creating Pictures for Publication by illustrator and teacher Martin Salisbury. Please, keep in mind the version I got is the Spanish one (with the same cover of the image above), the English version may have a different cover, one in blue, but with the same title.

I really like this book, it's all full color with really nice illustrations from different artists. Martin Salisbury's tips and instructions can be really useful if you have the right attitude to learn from them. Keep in mind, it's not a "how to" book. It gives you general information about how you can prepare your work for it to have quality and in the best of cases, to be published. It's not a step by step book.

If you are interested about the process of creating a children's book from the start to the end, it's a good book for you. I think it's the best choice if you are a beginner in illustration, as many of the things in this book remind me of my Illustration studies. This one has some interesting chapters, such as illustration's history, different techniques and materials, character development, about non fictional illustration, and more.

It's not a "heavy" book, it's light, fast and easy to read, but some people may find it's information too superficially, that's why I told you I think it's better for people who is starting, though you can also learn something new, it depends on you ;)

That's all for today!. Tomorrow I will show you a new illustration. Let me know if you would like to read about some of the books I own.

Butterfly net

I drew this little watercolor test in my old Moleskine.

Yesterday was a holiday in my country, that's why I decided not to upload anything here. Yesterday was relax day, I even watched a few films. It doesn't hurt once in a while... although at the end of the day I felt bad and I sketched a few ideas for something I will be preparing from now on if everything goes right :)

That's all for today! have fun and see you tomorrow!!

Melancholy

Today I'm busy in my house! so here is a sketch I made in my old Moleskine! A girl, to practice with this style that relax me a lot :) !

I have been drawing a few illustrations I got to finish, I will show them here soon little by little :D.

Nothing more for today! Have fun and tomorrow more!

First Love

And this is the last illustration I made in Odosketch. I had a lot of fun with you! I only feel guilty that I didn't use you more often (remember, all these illustrations were from 2009)

In this case, it's a girl in love. Maybe I wanted to make something cute? I only remember it was one of those which took me more time to finish...

This will be the last video from this page... I think. I'm thinking about making some "real" speedpainting in the future, but I'm not really sure if you will like it? Let me know your opinion!

Anyway. here is the video to my YouTube account. Have fun!

Old memories

I made this digital illustration some weeks ago, it was already time to show it!!

For this one, I thought in my old house, where I lived my childhood. It was small and a little old. It had  windows similar to this one. I remember how I always played with small toys there while I was looking outside. I think it was my favourite place.

I remember wearing some dresses I loved, some shoes, my books, my dear wooden toys... I remember so many things I thought I had forgotten I'm impressed!. I think it's a good thing, don't you?

Nothing more for today! Sure it will be a good day!. I hope it'll be for you too :). See you tomorrow!

Shaking tea

Another illustration from my series of "cups". It looks like this one is trying to dissolve that little cube by himself... or maybe he's just dancing :)

As I have been all this morning out of my house, I'm a little late for today's post!

That's all for now!! See you tomorrow with a new illustration!

World

Here is the illustration I showed you a little detail in yesterday's post. This is the one I scanned with my Epson, though it's a little retouched with Photoshop.

It's done originally with acrilyc, and it's from my old Moleskine, one of the first I drew there, so it's old :).

That's all for today! Tomorrow more!

My scanners

I use my scanner a lot, especially for sketches. Even if I like making digital illustrations, I can't help to make the sketches by hand, in the paper, and later to scan it. I like to think there's something traditional in every illustration I create (of course, there're exceptions for which I use my graphic tablet directly, but very few).
It's also useful for traditional illustrations, and especially for those, to know your machine is essential. I have used... three scanners so far.

One of them is a multifunction device that still works, but that I don't think to use ever again to scan any drawing (but it's ok for documents and similar). Ever. It made me understand the importance to get a good one for you. Scanner or printer, both together never.

The first one I owned an HP scanjet 3670, that lasted me around five or six years? if not more. Not bad, much better than my multifunction device. It could scan to 2400dpi, if I remember correctly...

Photography property of ©HP

The problem I had with it was that I always had troubles to "control" it, I think I didn't learn correctly how to use it. Even after the first day, I had problems with its software. It didn't appear in my computer even after installing it, or it appeared but rarely worked. The first times I couldn't control which dpi I wanted, and it always scanned to 72dpi. It started working correctly when I bought a new computer tower, but still couldn't use all its software, but the essential appeared.

But during my photography's final project, it started giving me problems, this time, in every drawing, photo, document, anything I scanned, all over it, appeared some colored vertical lines. Thankfully for this work, it wasn't too noticeable (and it was at the end of the project, anyway, so not too big deal). But as I kept scanning the lines were more and more visible.

I was told it was a problem of its lantern, and that it would be cheaper to buy a new one. So bye bye old scanner!

The one I use now is an Epson Perfection V330 Photo as a present from my parents. I decided to buy it because I used another Epson in class while I was studying photography and loved its quality and also because of I could scan negatives with it (tried it recently and I'm quite happy with it). It can scan to 12800dpi.

Photography property of ©Epson

I'm quite happy with it, now I know how to use it more or less correctly, but at first it can result a little difficult to use, because its software, I mean. At first I used the easy mode, but now I always work with the professional one. I don't recommend it if you haven't tried another lower before.

The bigger quality of it is much better than my last one for sure, sometime maybe too much, because it shows every little detail and texture. It won't be too much of a problem once you know who to use the software and maybe a little of photoshop ;). Also, it gives you more freedom to scan bulkier materials thanks to its cover.

Right now I can't say anything bad about this one, I hope it'll be with me for years!


Here I show you a little detail of the same illustration (a fast one done with acrylics from my Moleskine). I scanned first with my HP and days later with my Epson.

  - The first one was with my HP, you can see a little those vertical lines over the drawing. I remember I retouched later its color with photoshop (and sadly I can't find its original photoshop file), so the color it has now isn't the same it had when it was scanned at first, but at least it gives you an idea of the detail it could capture.

  - The second one is with my Epson. Here I didn't know how to use too well the software, but you can see the detail it can capture. Now I know how to conceal it a little and how to intensify its texture more. The colors closer to the original in my Moleskine are the second's.

The complete illustration of this preview can be found here.

With this I'm not telling HP is a bad brand or anything. Keep in mind the HP I'm writing here about is way older than my actual Epson. It's true it is told Epson offers better quality, but I think newer HP could work just fine! It depends on the way you use them, as always :). The problem I had with the lines could also appear in my newer scanner, it's quite common and there's no way to know when the lantern will stop working correctly... Again, I'm just talking about my experience with these two.

Long post for today!. Have a nice day!

Zebra X-ing

Today I'm busy! so, here a show you a sketch I decided to clean before posting it here :). I made it to practice another style with watercolor markers.

Yesterday I drew a lot with pencils, and I think I will keep doing it later today, just with another brand! Also, this morning I have been scanning some old negatives with my scanner for the first time. I need to practice a little but I'm glad I decided to buy this scanner.

It gave the idea to speak about the scanners I used so far, even if I'm not an expert.

Have fun! Look back for some memories, and see you tomorrow.

Gate

A video from Odosketch again! Don't worry, I have only one left to show you :). What can I tell about this one...? I think in this case I hadn't a clear idea of what I wanted to draw, it's like the drawing decided who it would end being :). Anyway, I had fun, something different of the things I have been posting here lately.

Can you see how the "twisted" tower' shadow is straight, while the others near it are the contrary ;)?

Here is the speedpainting of this illustration:

 

Have a nice day and see you tomorrow ;)

Present

Another present for today!

In this case, I tried to take care with its wrapping paper. I stamped by hand the little whales, all of them in blue except for one in red near to the bow. In the last photography you can seea little the pressure I had to use in the paper. But before all this, I decided to wrap the present inside with a red and cream tissue paper.

By the way, I made the stamp by myself!. I will explain how I made it soon ;)

That's all for now! Have a nice day!

Inside out

A new illustration for today! I remember I made the sketch for this in a coffee shop I like to visit.
I'm almost finished with what is keeping me so busy, but I don't want to finish it, it makes me happy because I'm enjoying it, but at the same time I'm a little sad :(

That's all for today, more tomorrow! Hope you have a nice start of the month... sure it's getting colder here.