Book Cover Modelling

My mother-in-law is very proud to have entered a new modelling career at the age of 83. She was the hand model for an illustration I worked on for my latest book cover. In the illustration an elderly neighbour offers the main character a magic sphere for her 'trick or treat'.

I was having trouble drawing the hand and had found some good visual references online, but none were from the right angle or perspective. Then it dawned on me that staying in the spare room was my very own 'hand model'.

Voila! Here are the results below.

And here is my mother-in-law hard at work. Gotta love her!

Step by Step Illustration

Following on from the Process of Illustrating I thought I might share with you an illustration I've been working on for my website. Ah, yes... I've been designing a website for my transition from writer to author. I thought it would be a nice gift to myself and a whole lot of fun doing. First up, thank you so much to my darling daughter who discovered the host website builder wix and who started me off on this adventure. She's not afraid to have a go and press as many buttons, change options and generally fiddle around with things. When I was little my mum always told me off for fiddling with things and Dad often thought I might break something, so understandably I am somewhat reticent to do so. But, no more! I am very proud of my new creation. It's almost as much fun as writing and illustrating.

If you're looking for a free website builder, check out http://www.wix.com/

Back to the illustration. I did some sketches for it quite a while ago and I'm too embarrassed to show them, but here is the last pencil sketch which I scanned onto the computer and then copied onto watercolour paper just to play around with the colour scheme.

As you know, I've got a thing for apple trees and here two little children are sitting in an apple tree (this one isn't high off the ground) reading a picture book. The girl is munching on an apple and looking over her brother's shoulder. I always love the crunch of a fresh apple when reading. Don't you?

Once I was happy with the colours I traced the sketch onto A3 size Archers 300gm watercolour paper using the lightbox my husband made for me. (He is such an angel). Then, undecided whether to actually do a wash for the background, I started with the tree and the children. Here is the first wash on the good copy.

I then did a blue wash for the sky and another in green for the leaves, darkened certain areas and dulled some of the tones. The finishing touches were done with colour pencil - Derwent Artists and Prismacolor. My set of Prismacolor was a Christmas present last year and I find them so different - creamier, richer. It will take me a while to get used to them. I mainly used them for the apples in the foreground and the boy's shirt.
Now, you're probably waiting to see the finished result. Sorry, but it will only be revealed with the launch of my website, which is in the next few days.

The website doesn't have a name, but I guess you could call it 'In the Apple Tree'.

Letting the characters loose

I've been uptight for a few months. Loads of deadlines and the pressures of family have stifled my creative spirit. So when I sat down today to sketch some new characters not much happened. Tony's advice in these situations (Tony Champ is my art/illustration mentor) is to scribble very loosely. Just sketch random stick figures dancing and jumping all over the place. Don't aim for any particular pose. Just see what evolves.

In Tony's demos he begins with a blue colouring pencil and sketches a figure, then shifts to a red pencil and moves the figure to a different position, then green etc. It is similar to animating the character. When he's finally happy with a pose, he sketches over the lines in a black pencil or ink.

Here's an example:

Do you see how this little character just jumped out of the colour scribbles? Cute isn't he?

Here's another one:

Perhaps he's a victim planning his revenge. He certainly looks grumpy.

Ok, my turn to have a go.

I have to let those characters loose, relax my attitude and not be too hard on myself. Then my first happy little character danced onto the page... Minus hands, but nevermind.

You can hardly see the blue lines I drew and that's the beauty of the blue line. They seem to recede when you draw over them and nearly disappear when photocopied or scanned. This can benefit the artist who feels restricted by the darker line. The blue line lets you make mistakes and be free! Then when you're happy with it, go over it in a darker medium.

My next sketch evolved into a ballerina exercising. Don't ask me why. It was the scribble muse...

What happened after that was a surprise. The character I had been looking for and wishing for climbed onto the page and up the apple tree, where she began to swing her legs and read a book. Finally a character I could work with. Do you want to see her?

Where's the apple tree?

This blog post is about letting characters loose not trees.

Maybe next week.

Here she is:

You still want the tree?

What? You're hanging out for it?


So was she...

Warm up those artistic muscles (warning - nudie pics)

Watercolour Pencil Sketch. Life Drawing. A.Sunde 2009

Even though I love to draw children, life drawing sessions are essential to the development of my skills as an artist. With a live model there is no choice but to draw the figure in the position I see her/ him. That means it's not possible to turn the model on his/her head (as I might a photo) simply because it's easier to capture a certain curve or a particular stroke.


Graphite Sketch. Life Drawing. A. Sunde 2009

Before I start to draw I have learnt to do warm up exercises designed to loosen my strokes and relax my mind. The exercises train my brain to remember arm and hand movements through repetition, using both left and right hands (sometimes simultaneously). It also shifts the focus of my mind to the 'right brain'. In other words the left analytical brain becomes so bored with the exercises it switches off and hey presto I am able to draw what I see and not what I 'think' I see.

These movements will then help me more accurately capture the image before me, even when I'm not looking at it. That makes it sound simple doesn't it?

Acrylic sketch. Life Drawing. A.Sunde 2009

I study Life Drawing at the Gold Coast Art School http://www.artschool.com.au/ with Tony Champ. We begin by drawing circles, repeatedly, without taking the pencil off the paper, big ones, small ones, in one direction, then the next, with our right hand and then our left for ten minutes each. Then we do figure eights, then ellipses.

By now it's apparent to me that a certain direction of stroke feels uncomfortable and awkward. My hand just doesn't naturally relax into the movement. That will be my weak stroke and that's the one I need to practise the most, just like an archer practises his aim so he can shoot the bullseye with his eyes shut.

Speed is essential in Life Drawing. The less time you have the looser your strokes. You learn quickly to draw from the elbow and not the wrist. These exercises have helped me to achieve that relaxed sketch I so admire in others.

But the real trick is to draw with your heart and not your intellect.