Another of MacDonald’s farm residents especially for Eve.
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Category: Illustration
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Old MacDonald 1: Cow
Eve’s favourite song at the moment is Old MacDonald (well, that and the theme from SpongeBob Squarepants of course). Hearing her singing “Moomooomooomooo Eee eye Eeee eyeee Coooowwww” at the top of her voice inspired me to do some illustrations.
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Lens Testing
I don’t get into Dublin city centre very often these days but on Monday night I made the trip in for a birthday party. On the way home I passed Conn’s Cameras and had to do a back track to lustfully gaze in the windows at all the pretty camera toys. Most camera shops I’ve seen in Dublin are the dingy variety and they never have quite what you’re looking for in stock. It’s always a case of them having to look it up in one of their giant catalogues and order it in for you. All I want to do is have a look though and if they had to order it in well then I’d feel like I had to buy it. So, the next day I made yet another trip into Dublin and made straight for Conn’s.
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Bicycle Ride Sketch
For a long (loooong) time I have harboured a dream to illustrate children’s books. One of my resolutions is to get a portfolio started that is geared towards that market. The portfolio I have now is totally inappropriate since it was compiled with the computer games industry in mind and so is more horror and game character/location based.
What my portfolio needs to consist of:
1. Ten to fifteen pieces of my best work.
No half-hearted scribbles. I need to work on my colour skills this year (I knew I should have worked harder at this class in college).
2. A consistent style (if you’ve got different styles it might be better to have different portfolios).
I’m working on developing the style I have and simplifying it.
3. A range of subjects.
In the case of kid’s books: indoor, outdoor, night, day, groups, animals, different age groups/activities, unusual angles, etc.
So, I’ve got a long ways to go. As I study other illustrators and take an honest look at my own drawings, I don’t think my artistic skills are up to par yet but you’ve got to start somewhere. Hopefully in the process of working up a portfolio my abilities will improve and one of these years I’ll have something good enough to send to a publisher.
Above is my first sketch which I’m agonising over right now. I’m trying to figure out what to have in the background…simple or detailed, abstract shapes or proper drawn location, country or city. I think a bit more experimentation is in order but I’m happy with it so far.
Here’s a larger version
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Illustration Inspiration
A great site for finding inspiration is the Illustration Ltd. online portfolio site. It features some great illustrators and is a useful place to study what it takes to get into the business, or just to drool over some pretty pictures.
Personal favourites would be Vincent Vigla and Fernando Juarez.