A Kiss for Koala

A Kiss for Koala

8x10 inches

Coloured Pencil on drafting film, with a digital background

You never can tell where life takes you. After six months of having no illustration enquiries, out of the blue, I had three in one week which has meant a busy couple of weeks. I spent the first week working on an illustration for a cider ad, with a donkey in an apple orchard - all went smoothly and the client was happy, so I was thrilled to bits.

I was also contacted by a publisher wanting to know if I'd be interested in illustrating a children's picture book!!! This was a sample illustration that I completed for them, based on their brief. I've learnt not to get too excited when these opportunities come along (in case they don't pan out) - just take it a step at a time and hope for the best!!!

Illustration - Tigers

Tigers

Painted with Corel Painter

This is the final illustration commission for a series of coins for the Coin Club of Australia, and my last digital illustration for a while. Whilst the digital work is wonderful for illustration work, in that it allows for changes so easily, for me I lose something in the creation of a digital work compared to working with tangible media. So whilst, the income from illustration work is always welcome, I have decided to focus for a while on drawing from the heart, and hopefully sell an artwork here or there to help pay the bills :))

Last Commission for 2010 and a very Merry Christmas to all!!!

Beagle

Commissioned by the Coin Club of Australia

Painted with Corel Painter

My final commission for 2010 and all ready for Christmas - what a wonderful feeling. This year has been such a busy year, (as I'm sure it has for all of you), as I searched for a sense of direction and purpose with my art. The illustration work, thankfully has taken off and this helps to pay the bills and provides that sense of 'purpose', but my goal for next year is to have more balance. Balance between the 'bread and butter' work and then time to work on the art I love doing the most, which at this stage is the miniature art and the coloured pencil work, and finally balance for the people in my life, which were sadly a bit neglected this year.
To all of you, I wish the most wonderful Christmas full of blessings, love and laughter with the people you love the most and may 2011 bring much success and happiness to each one of you.

Lotus Moon Illustration and an update on the finch chicks

Lotus Moon

Commissioned Illustration

Corel Painter

Here is one of my latest commissions and also an update on the little finch chicks that I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs. Sadly, one of the chicks died a few days after my last entry. Then on the weekend, my Mum rang me in tears because her beloved cat had died suddenly, and since it has only been a couple of years since Dad died, her two cats were her constant comfort. Mum lives over 1000kms away, and my heart ached for her, so I jumped on a plane to pop up and give her a hug and some cheer, and left behind strict instructions with all the family on how to take care of the finch chicks. Sunday morning I rang the family to see how all was going, and they vehemently reassured me that they had followed my instructions to a 'T', but unfortunately the two remaining chicks died on Saturday night. I was so sad - they had reached the stage where they were covered in feathers apart from their head and they would sit up and chirp every time I walked past their little cage, but in the end it just wasn't meant to be! :(

Polar Bears Illustration

Polar Bears

Commissioned Illustration

Painted with Corel Painter on a Wacom Cintiq display

This is my second illustration for the Coin Club of Australia. At this stage, I can't reveal too much information about these coins until after their release date (which I didn't quite realise before, and that is why my previous blog entry shrank a bit during the week). I am thoroughly enjoying working digitally, but there are times, such as this week, where I miss the simplicity of picking up a pencil.

I decided, since it looks like much of my commission work will be digital illustrations, to purchase a Wacom Cintiq tablet, which allows you to draw directly on the display screen, whereas with the Bamboo tablet, you are drawing on a tablet whilst looking at a computer screen and this takes a bit of co-ordination. I was so excited when the Cintiq arrived on Wednesday, only to find that the power pack supplied was faulty - rang Wacom and was assured one would be sent the next day. When no power pack arrived next day, I rang again (with steam coming out of my ears) and they arranged to courier me a new pack. It arrived late Thursday, but now I had problems getting Corel to open up on the Cintiq display and it wouldn't maximise without shutting down.

After spending about four hours on the phone to Wacom and Corel, uninstalling both Corel and the tablet and reinstalling both, the problem was finally resolved. And so today, I was able to complete the illustration that was started last Monday. Had I done this illustration in pencil, it would have been finished last Tuesday!!!

Final illustration in Platypus Life Cycle Series

Life Cycle of a Platypus - Mother nursing her babies.

This is the final illustration for the series of four on the life cycle of the Platypus for Macmillan Publishers. It is amazing how few reference photos there are for platypus even on-line, which is obviously why Macmillan had to call on the services of an illustrator, however I did a fair bit of research for the project and hopefully have achieved some level of accuracy. These illustrations will actually be within small circular frames, so they will be cropped further, but so long as the kids get the general idea. :)

More Platypus Life Cycle Illustrations

Platypus mother lays her eggs in a burrow

Two adult platypus mating

I'm having a very constructive weekend in terms of work. We have a labour day long weekend, and so far the weather has been quite wet and miserable (which I really love) and all the men in our house spent yesterday glued to the TV watching the AFL Grand final and then today watching the NRL Grand Final, which left me with not much to do but work. These illustrations aren't due until Friday, but happily I am now well ahead of schedule and only have one more to complete, which means I can also spend some quality time with the kids during the school holidays this week. Both these illustrations were done using Corel painter and Paint.net.